A dermatologist by profession, she was born in New Delhi. After her schooling from Welham Girls School, Dehra Dun, she pursued her medical education at the prestigious Maulana Azad Medical College and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. She has been a practising dermatologist in the private sector since the past 23 years.

The foundation is named after her mother, the late Usha Lakhanpal, who was an avid art collector and a lover of music, folk art and all things embodying India’s rich cultural heritage. Sensitisation towards art and artists for Dr.Tandon started at a young age and ingrained in her a deep respect and appreciation for all aspects of Indian art.

In the course of collecting art and interacting with artists over three decades, she perceived a deep lacuna in society with respect to appreciating art for its artistic credibility, authenticity and integrity of thought. Unfortunately over a period of time, the primary focus had shifted more towards the perception of art primarily as a financial asset.

To bring about a change in how art is perceived and appreciated by the youth, she started collaborating with schools. Her focus has been on schools where Art is given importance as an integral part of the Academic curriculum, or colleges where its relevance is understood, beyond the confines of pure academia.

The focus of the Foundation is significantly also on schools with an exemplary commitment towards education of children from underprivileged and physically challenged sections of society. These children face immense hardship from a young age and there is a need to introduce art to them as a viable language of expression and creativity. There is also the historical reality of the humble and meagre beginnings of many of the Masters of Indian modern and contemporary art. The fact that these stalwarts persevered and overcame great challenges to achieve the heights of artistic integrity and success, can serve as an inspiration for underprivileged children to excel, despite their circumstances. Artists such as Satish Gujral and Binode Bihari Mukherjee, who overcame auditory and visual handicaps respectively, to epitomise greatness in art, could inspire physically challenged children to achieve the same in their chosen fields, notwithstanding their physical shortcomings.

Dr. Tandon is committed in her belief that sensitising children towards art from a young age has the power to change the dynamics of art and art appreciation in our country.

She currently lives and works in Delhi/NCR

Prayag Shukla, (born 28th may 1940 in Kolkata), is a renowned poet, fictional writer, art critic and an art curator.

He has been writing on Indian Contemporary Art for the last 50 years. He is considered one of the foremost art critics in the world of Indian Contemporary Art.

He has pioneered art criticism and enriched the Hindi language by giving shape to a new critical vocabulary with context to Indian art. He is highly regarded for his profound way of looking at art as well as the society that gives birth to it. He has been invited as a guest lecturer in the National Institute of Design (NID) Ahmedabad and National School of Drama (NSD) Delhi, to take lectures on how to visually appreciate and interpret contemporary art.

He has translated Rabindra Nath Tagore's 'Gitanjali' and Sankha Ghosh's poems into Hindi. He was with Times of India group for many years and has edited the inaugural issues of Lalit Kala Akademi's Hindi journal. He is the Founder Editor of National School of Drama's journal, 'Rang Prasang' and of Sangeet Natak Akademi's Hindi journal 'Sangna.' He was invited as the Hindi representative to the Iowa Writing Program in 1984, and has extensively toured France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China as a poet, an author and an art critic. His awards include Dilli Akademi’s ‘Kruti Award’ and ‘Dwijdev Samman’. He was awarded The Sahitya Akademi award for the translation of Bankin Chandra Chatterjee’s selected essays into Hindi.

He continues to actively contribute to all the areas of his creative interest. He lives and works in Delhi NCR.

Uday Jain belongs to the third generation of the Dhoomimals, who were the first family to start a gallery in India and to really nurture Modern Indian art.

His grandfather, Ram Babu, was a promoter and supporter of artists. He started Dhoomimal gallery in 1936 more as a meeting place for artists and art minded people. His father, Ravi Jain, gave Indian art a formalised structure with the gallery holding the first major shows for many a celebrated artist of today including Jagdish Swaminathan, F.N. Souza, Ram Kumar and Krishen Khanna.

Uday, after completing his schooling from Modern School, a BSc Hons and an M.A. in marketing, did a short course on art appreciation from Berkeley California. He officially took over the Dhoomimal Gallery in 2003.

Since then, he has curated and organised over a 100 exhibitions in India and abroad, including ‘Souza’s Iconoclastic Vision’, ‘Carved Contours - Jamini Roy, as well as several Charity auctions in association with NGO’s and organisations like Rotary, SEED and SAVERS.

He currently lives and works in Delhi