To be a premier organization in the greater Houston area for the preservation and promotion of South Indian Classical Performing Arts, with a focus on Carnatic music, achieved through the presentation of concerts, lectures, workshops, and festivals by high-caliber artists both local and international.
Founded in 1993, the Classical Arts Society of Houston is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and maintaining the rich heritage of the classical performing arts of India. The founders of the Classical Arts Society are (late) Indu Krishnamurthi, Nalini Mukhopadhyay &
Prabha Bala.
The objectives of the Classical Arts Society are:
- To present music and dance recitals of high quality by leading contemporary performers.
- To educate through talks, lecture demonstrations and symposia by experts in the fields of
- Indian classical performing arts.
- To create an endowment for the promotion of Indian classical arts in the greater Houston area.
The Classical Arts Society of Houston emerged as a formal organization in the year 1993 out of an ad-hoc group that gathered annually to conduct the Tyagaraja Aaradhana in the Houston area during the 1980s under the leadership of Smt. Indu Krishnamurthy. Since its inception in 1993, the Classical Arts Society has been conducting the annual Tyagaraja Music Utsavam (Festival) each year without a break. The festival’s permanent venue has been the beautiful campus of the Sri Meenakshi Temple in Pearland. The serene ambience of the temple has been an ideal location for the young and the old among the Houston area Carnatic music community to gather to perform their Aaradhana to the great composer Sri Tyagaraja and to enjoy a grand classical music and dance festival featuring leading professional artists in concerts, lecture demonstrations and in highly informative panel discussions. The co-sponsorship of the Sri Meenakshi Temple for this festival is an added blessing. While this annual festival in Spring remains the anchor event of the organization, Classical Arts Society additionally holds a Fall Music Festival and other arts events featuring upcoming diaspora artists from within the Houston community and elsewhere throughout the year. The events are held either at the temple or other Houston area venues such as the MATCH, Asia Society, and the Stafford Civic Center. In the year 2007, Classical Arts successfully experimented with a new concept of inviting a leading performing artist to take charge of our Tyagaraja Music Festival as its Artistic Director. The Artistic Director is offered a free hand to curate the event, choose a theme and format for the festival and to expound whatever concept he or she wished to highlight and develop. The result is that each year of the festival has a different slant and provides new learnings. Sangheeta Kalanidhi Sri N. Ravikiran was the first AD who declared such a role was a first for him. Classical Arts regards this as a great endorsement and takes pride in starting a new trend.
The Classical Arts Society of Houston is a 501(c)(3) a tax-exempt organization with Tax ID 76- 0392366. All programs presented by the Classical Arts Society are open to the public. It is funded mostly by community donations from the attendees and patrons of its programs for which the organization is grateful. Some patrons arrange matching gifts from their employers. The donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Donations in excess of expenses are used for staging programs during lean years, additional programming during milestone years and endowment. Occasionally, Classical Arts has sought to supplement the funding by ticketing certain concerts. A Board of Directors, an Advisory Board and dedicated individual volunteers strive for excellence in running the Classical Arts Society activities.