Lecture presentation by Dr. Arshiya Sethi

An NCPA presentation supported by Voltas under its CSR initiative

Sharing Lessons from a 40 year long commitment to the Arts as an Arts Manager by Dr. Arshiya Sethi

Independent scholar, Institution builder and Arts Manager, Dr. Arshiya Sethi, writes and speaks on cultural issues, internationally, on her research and administrative experience with the arts, particularly dance. After three decades as a consultant, building tangible and intangible cultural equities, of which her work at India Habitat Centre, and collaborative city festivals, is most notable.

Twice a Fulbright Fellow, Dr. Arshiya Sethi, was the first ever Fulbright Arts Fellow to be associated directly with the Lincoln Centre (2003-2004), and subsequently became one of the handful of international recipients of the Fulbright fellowship, who received it for a second time, this time for a post-doctoral association (2017-2018). In 2003, in thanksgiving for the first Fulbright, she established the Kri Foundation mandated to work on, and braiding Arts, Activism and Knowledge. Her work has been described as Artivism- Arts and Activism, and has often been part of scholarly enquiry.

Former dance critic, Times of India, and presenter of the archival National Programme of Dance and Music on Doordarshan for over three decades, she concluded her stint with television as advisor for the Art and Culture channel DD Bharati. Here her thematic use of selections from DD’s rich archives helped in giving them a new life. Her leadership and pioneering work in creating the Asian Broadcasting Union’s (ABU) Television Dance Festival, is worth mentioning. For a decade, as Creative-Head of Delhi’s India Habitat Centre, Dr. Sethi initiated many new initiatives, including the HCL Concert series.

A prolific writer, in both popular and academic genres, Dr. Sethi has authored essays in several anthologies on dance and presents regularly at international conferences on dance and the south Asian region. She has co-authored the book “Non-Gharanedaar: Pt Mohanrao Kallianpurkar, The Paviour of Kathak’ (2022), and co-edited and contributed to Dance Studies Association’s international publication “Dance Under the Shadow of the Nation” (2019). Post Covid, she jointly created and edits the new online international academic Journal “South Asian Dance Intersections” (SADI), housed at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte.

Currently she is writing her book on the dance of Assam’s sattras, that got national recognition in the year 2000, studying it via the political lens. She is committed to promote the North eastern region of India as a Personal Social Responsibility (PSR), towards which she regularly organizes Festivals of the region in Delhi and creates cultural bridges with the rest of India. Her current work includes studying Dance in the Diaspora and the largely untouched issue of Arts and the Law. She believes very strongly in learning every day on the job, especially important lessons from failures.

Entry free on a first-come-first-served basis.