Chasing The Arts In A Wealth-Stocked Valley

Last weekend, my husband and I attended an artistic presentation of South Indian classical arts at the Historic Hoover Theater in San Jose. South India Fine Arts [SIFA] hosted a weekend festival, Lalithakala Vaibhavam, in which artistes in the South Indian traditional classical arts were featured for two full days, highlighting the variety of talent that has emerged in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Decades ago, as young parents to children born in the diaspora, my husband and I felt that imparting the arts was the surest way to introduce our cultural ecosystem to them. They were going to be American, but that other hyphenated part, the inherited “Indian” side, would need to be nurtured and cultivated, too. How could we offer it to them as sincerely as we could?

The years were frenetic, as it turned out. Some days in our family’s life were terribly skewed; some others, however, evenly divided; our children performed a Dikshitar piece extolling a Hindu god at an event in the morning and played Ave Maria at a western violin recital in the afternoon.

In the diaspora, such striations do end up being important. To belong wholly somewhere, we must bring in many different parts of ourselves. How we navigate the many parts of ourselves while keeping perspective of our life goals leads to a richer and more meaningful life. (That wisdom often reaches most human beings in our twilight years, unfortunately, but the investment in the arts must happen very early, in childhood and youth. Right there is the rub.)

Vadhya Vrinda – Chary & Thyagarajan ensemble (image source : Sundar Narayanan )

It takes many decades, a couple of generations, in fact, for a community to root itself in a place. Thus, now, the first two generations of Indian immigrants have built a vast network of community offerings here in the Bay Area. Early education in the cultural arts has become elemental for Indian-American families.

It follows that one of the things that a young community needs is also a forum where arts practitioners can present their skills. Forty-seven years ago, SIFA was created by a group of South Indian classical arts enthusiasts to do just that. While a good part of its energy was spent in presenting top-notch Carnatic and Bharatanatyam talent from South India, the organization has tried to feature local artistes, too, over the years. In the last few years, we’ve been seeing the rise of several home-grown artistes. This past weekend was a first, even for SIFA.

I still remember how my husband and I spent many weekends with both our children attending music and dance concerts presented on the SIFA stage, and how we often took for granted the immense dedication of the team of officers and volunteers who helped “behind the stage” at every event. Organizations such as these are largely driven by the energy and enthusiasm of a few people; the rest of us who benefit from their selfless efforts sometimes have a tendency to act entitled and lord it over them about the things that did not go right.

SIFA committee and volunteers (image source : Sundar Narayanan )

There’s yet another aspect of arts encouragement and sponsorship that irks me more and more. I’ve been perturbed by the contrasting value system of pursuing the arts in a place sodden with the heft of money. Almost every day, there’s yet another story in the newspapers about the next public offering in the AI space. Yet, it’s not clear that the ultra-rich valley honchos, many of whom are of South Indian heritage, have made that much of a dent in the arts scene as it applies to Indian-Americans.

Money matters tremendously for organizations like SIFA; donations and sponsorships are critical for its various arts outreach programs. Recently I heard about an Indian-American show that has the potential to reach Broadway provided its creator found a few million dollars from a wealthy donor. I was appalled. Here we were, in a valley where Bay Area tech giants dominate the world’s multi-trillion-dollar corporate elite. (Nvidia and Apple have recently surpassed the $5 trillion valuation milestone, while Alphabet, Meta, and other major Silicon Valley players have benefited from the euphoria over artificial intelligence.) And here we were, begging for the continued patronage of the arts. This simply does not add up.

It brings me to another observation about the mindset of those trying to make an honest living in the creative arts. In such a wealthy valley, where the only currency that matters seems to be money, it certainly needs a different kind of mentality, for both teachers and students, to stay the course and have the courage of conviction to pursue the arts.

Singing Strings by Vid. Anuradha Shridhar & ensemble (image source : Sundar Narayanan)

Several Indian classical teachers in the valley (note that a majority of them have professional degrees alongside their artistic accomplishments) could have spent their decades in lucrative high-tech careers. Yet they chose to dedicate their lives to the cause of what is really a niche art form in the larger world of the classical arts. I also know of teachers who juggle two demanding careers. They are engineers and scientists during the day, and musicians and teachers by evening and on weekends. Together, these committed teachers have helped nurture—and nourish—this ecosystem for the arts in this valley.

Pancha Tattva choreographed and presented by Smt. Meenakshi Ganesan and Smt. Sudha Krishnan accompanied by live orchestra. (image source: Sundar Narayanan )

A patron of the arts here in this area observed how watching this past weekend’s performance made her realize the larger implications of Carnatic music teaching in this corner of the country. Sudha Pennathur writes that as she watched the young artistes perform, she found herself thinking about the collective responsibility we all had to nurture and encourage this generation.

“They are not simply students learning an art form—they are the future keepers and torchbearers of a musical and cultural legacy that has been handed down to us over generations. That, to me, is the real significance of Lalithakala Vaibhavam. It provides more than a stage. It tells our young artists that their dedication matters, that their talent is valued, and that there is a community that wants to see them continue and flourish.”

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