About Us
Kiara Academy of Performing Arts
Our academy was established in the year 2006 with the motto “Seeking the soul in song”. Over the years, that has expanded to include music theatre and dance as well. All our programmes are designed to help our students find that “soul space” from which they can learn to negotiate reality from a value-based foundation.
Our students range in age from 5 to 60+. We provide education in choral music, vocal training, western dance, theatre, guitar, piano, and drums. Our students have been winning accolades and distinctions in music from prestigious institutions such as Trinity College of Music and London School of Music. After their Kiara experience, many of our students are now combining mainstream subjects with performing arts and are being accepted at globally renowned universities such as New York University, Leeds University Business School, and York University, Toronto.
Over the last 19 years, we have grown to become Bangalore’s most sought-after performing arts academy and our hallmark of excellence, discipline and commitment has been obvious over the twenty-four major live stage productions, two full-length online concerts produced during the Covid years which were viewed globally and, in 2023 we were invited to make a presentation at TedX Bangalore. We have also been recognized with a national award, the Samman Patr Award for Valuable Contributions in the field of Choral Music and Training.
Dr. Wendy M Dickson, M.A, Ph.D
Dr. Wendy M Dickson has a doctorate in Literature with a specialization in Comparative Drama and has taught classes from Kindergarten through Post-graduate over a career spanning 47 years. She voluntarily retired from her position as Professor of English Literature, Department of English, Jyoti Nivas College Autonomous in 2006 to establish The Kiara Academy of Performing Arts.
All through school and college, she was trained by dynamic and professional mentors in choral music and theatre and has performed in and directed a number of choirs and musicals.
She teaches voice, choral singing and theatre at Kiara.
Mrs.Tina Dickson Franco has been a singer from her early school days and through her years at Mount Carmel College, where she represented her college and won prizes at inter-college and inter-university competitions.
She also conducted the prestigious Mount Carmel College Choir while in her final year of her degree studies.
She was trained by Wendy M Dickson and assists her in conducting the Kiara choirs while also training voice students individually.
Over the last few years she has been the Dance Director, overseeing the training and choreography of dance sequences for the Kiara stage productions, while also assisting Dr.Wendy Dickson with the management of the Academy.
