Indian Heritage & Cultural Association-NJ

Indian Heritage and Cultural Association of NJ (IHCA-NJ) is a volunteer based, taxed exempt 501 (C) (3) registered nonprofit organization, established in 2013 in New Jersey USA. The mission of IHCA-NJ is to promote local talent in performing arts and to bring all communities together to discuss various social issues pertinent to our society through performing arts. IHCA-NJ is devoted to promoting and preserving South Asian culture and traditions through the performing arts. IHCA-NJ values social causes such as women's empowerment, diversity and inclusion, mental health, human trafficking, immigration, and LGBTQ issues. We present festivals of theater- Natya Darpan, dance - Nritya Darpan, and music- Sangeet Darpan featuring local artists performing original works that address social issues. Natya Darpan: Mirror to the society through theater Our first stride towards this goal was the 2016 Natya Darpan, a multilingual short play festival, which was a project not only to fulfill this mission statement, but was a collaboration between local theater groups to show the power of the arts despite linguistic barriers. Each Natya Darpan festival features many plays built to showcase intra-community struggles. Our goal is to build bridges between people through performing arts. Every year Natya Darpan became more and more popular among theater communities throughout NJ. In the eight years, over 650 local artists across USA have presented at Natya Darpan. Because of the consistent high quality of the show, we are proud that the last six Natya Darpan shows were "Sold Out". This success led to invitations for the festival to tour to Washington, DC and Boston, MA metro areas in 2022 and 2023. Over 1100 audiences have enjoyed our festivals ( Natya Darpan NJ, Washington DC and Boston combined) in year 2022 alone. We also take pride in organizing educational seminars and workshops by renowned artists including directors, playwright, curators, sound/light technicians, Makeup artists etc from US as well as from India in performing arts related subjects such as directions, playwright, sound/light engineering for theater/dance, free of charge to those who are interested. All our events highlight social causes relevant to not only the language groups that performed them, as well as showcased the idea that these issues and problems are felt on a multi-cultural level. Our future projects will continue making way for this goal and we at IHCA will work tirelessly to promote the immense talent of local artists. IHCA-NJ gives an opportunity to local highly gifted artists and groups to express their talent without any limiting factors of language, subject and social issues. IHCA-NJ's another goal is to bring the communities together by addressing various current social issues through performing arts. IHCA-NJ’s growth is testament to the quality of the work presented and our service to the local community. We have gained the support of Middlesex County and The Consulate General of India NY. We are very proud to receive a prestigious grant from NEA grants for the Arts (2023-24), Middlesex County, New Jersey State council on the art for last nine years. We are also in partnership with The Indian Consulate -New York since last nine years, in hosting multilingual short play festival Natya Darpan. Nritya Darpan: Mirror to the society through Dance In 2022, considering the need to support very talented local dancers, choreographers and dance companies, we initiated dance festival “Nritya Darpan”. At Nritya Darpan dance festival, six multi-talented US-based dance companies over 20-25 highly trained dancers performed dance dramas using traditional and modern techniques and choreographies. The success of this event prompted plans to implement this festival as an annual event. Our purpose is twofold, to promote young and promising dancers and to encourage collaborations across dance forms, whether traditional or modern. The festival provided the platform and curation guided them to collaboration. We also want to build a dance-going audience in NJ (similar to that in NYC) through the presentation of outstanding dancers and dance companies that work in team spirit. We are particularly focused on choosing danceable themes that translate in movements highlighting environmental degradation, women's empowerment and themes of social justice, whether that of racial discrimination or abuse experienced by LGBTQ communities. At Nritya Darpan dance festival, typically six multi-talented US-based dance companies over 20-25 highly trained dancers, will be performing dance dramas using traditional and modern techniques and choreographies. Our purpose is twofold, to promote young and promising dancers and to encourage collaborations across dance forms, whether r traditional or modern. The festival will provide the platform and curation will guide them to collaboration. We also want to build a dance-going audience in NJ (similar to that in NYC) through the presentation of outstanding dancers and dance companies that work in team spirit. We are particularly focused on choosing danceable themes that translate in movements highlighting environmental degradation, women's empowerment and themes of social justice, whether that of racial discrimination or abuse experienced by LGBTQ communities. Our first unique dance festival Nritya Darpan, was hosted on December 10, 2022 in NJ, and celebrated emerging contemporary and classical artists from the Indian diaspora where six multi-talented US-based dance companies performed high quality dance dramas using various Indian classical dance forms (such as Kathak, Bharatnatyam, Manipuri, and Odissi) and Western contemporary dance works. The dancers and choreographers who are exponents of the Indian traditional dance forms struggle to nurture their rich heritage and culture in the US and in the process, they innovate and develop a diversity of ways to express not only the traditional but also contemporary ideas and themes. We impose no limitation of dance styles, music and/or languages. The performing groups are free to depict narratives and stories that depict human experience in its raw details but also the magical stories of the ancient world. And such a panel of dance works, bring to the audiences the enormous possibilities of what movement and dance can do.