ART FOR THE PLANET

CREATING NEW WORKS OF ART WITH A PURPOSE

      Your donation sustains the #ArtforthePlanet program in the following ways:

• Supporting CDI to create new, world-class productions in Indian classical arts

• Sustaining the Legacy of Pandit Chitresh Das with Kathak Dance & Teaching Fellowships

• Professional productions that present kathak at the highest level with world class artists cost $60-$70K to produce and are only possible with donor support. 

• CDI Annual School Show - A Gift to The Community & Future Generations

  Our 2026 School Show on May 24th, will bring back the beautiful production "Jamuna Ke Tat Par..." exploring India's sacred rivers and how to protect them through beautiful and powerful kathak dance, live music, and original art work by Alka Raghuram.

• “Invoking the River”, one of our major productions, is back in the Bay Area by popular demand! This powerful production, which explores our relationships to sacred rivers in India has toured India and the U.S. to great acclaim, and will return home on September 20, 2026 at the prestigious Presidio Theater in San Francisco.

• The Kathak Dance Fellowship has been a hugely successful program. It provides Chitresh Das Youth Company alumni with training and a stipend for practice and rehearsal and paid professional performance opportunities.

  The following dancers have received the Kathak Fellowship, performed in the professional company, and some have toured throughout the U.S. and India: Mayuka Sarukkai, Vanita Mundhra, Shruti Pai, Kritika Sharma, Gauri Bhatnagar, Ishani Basak, Srija Bhattacharya, Grishma Shukla.

• Kathak Teaching Fellowship, Key to sustaining the legacy of Pandit Chitresh Das is highly trained and experienced teachers as well as dancers. We are launching the Kathak Teaching Fellowship in Summer 2025 to formalize the training process for the next generation of teachers.

  The fellowship will include training and apprentice teaching opportunities and professional development. When completed Fellows are eligible for professional teaching positions.

Donate Today!