Ra-Ve Cultural Foundation is a Northwest Arkansas non-profit organization which is dedicated to promoting classical Indian performing arts in the region. It was founded in 2018 and they have a permanent space in Bentonville at the Kalaloka Institute of Fine Arts but they also host events out in the community which supports collaboration and accessibility. In this interview, Harini Jayachandran (Programming director), Karthika Mohan Sheela (HR and Logistics Coordinator) and Vinitha Vijayam Ramakrishnan (Development Coordinator) share some insight on Ra-Ve’s development, struggles, presence in the community, and the goals for the future.
1. What were the initial efforts to start Ra-Ve? Were there any struggles or concerns? How has the organization been successful?
We started Ra-Ve to promote Indian cultural arts within Northwest Arkansas. In the initial stages of the organization, there was no one [coming],there was no one to be part of [the organization],so we needed to be self-motivated and keep up the events. Then, slowly, we developed promotion and marketing. Now, we have started collaborating with other organizations and it works well but the community finds it hard commuting to other places. Even in getting performers, they think, “Arkansas? They have Indians? Can we have a concert there?” They always think of Dallas, New York, or California. We have begun to have 200-300 people at the concerts and now our goal is 600 people.
2. How does the foundation provide representation from the various areas of India and ethnicities within that region?
There are so many communities [within Indian culture] like Malayalam, Marathi, Gujarati, and Kannada and Ra-Ve supports [them] as part of one organization. We are also working towards including more and more [people], not just Indians. Now we are taking [programming] into Springdale and Fayetteville.
3. With an increasing South Asian population in the NWA region and as families are settling down, I believe we will start to see 2nd and 3rd generations of South Asian families that grow up in this area. How does Ra-Ve see its future as an opportunity to maintain cultural connections?
Most [people] think that Indian classical arts are kind of boring, but now we are starting to see a positive response. Families are bringing their kids and their kids are learning and the concerts are motivating them.
We also have community showcases where people can come, even if they are not [professional performers]. If they need a platform to start or to perform, we have these community showcases, where they can showcase dance and music,even if they are a beginner. Or they just need a platform. They can come, dance or do music, instruments, anything. And if we feel that they are good enough to perform, we welcome them for our house concerts. That’s how it starts and that’s a platform we give to not only kids but to all of the Indian community as long as it is from traditional Indian artforms. Everyone knows about Bollywood so we want to promote traditional dance forms or music to the kids born and brought up here. We want to make sure that they know about our Indian culture and heritage.
Like 10 years back, if students needed to do a workshop, they needed to drive for like 4 hours to Dallas, stay in a hotel, but we are just bringing the artist to our concerts with only the ticket cost. And we have workshops where students really have a 1-on-1 [experience].You get to see the artists and you can talk to them.
Ra-Ve has set up a framework to help people keep in touch with their roots. Traditional music and dance forms are repositories of our cultural identity. So, by watching them, we learn more about who we are and where we come from.
4. What are Ra-Ve’s key events? What events can we look forward to this year?
Chai Time is a famous [program] for us. We just take one topic. It could be like fashion, college education, travel, like by cruise or plane, what is the affordability and difference? Chai Time is totally free for the public. We also started “Art for the Ages” which is for senior citizens.
We do have 8 events going on every year, we have two “House Concerts” [promoting] local artists. We always include Indian [culture], but we collaborate with other multicultural artists like Puerto Rican artist Papa Rap and Punjabi artist DilSkillz at the Scott Family Amazeum on August 10th.
We also have two master concerts every year, this year we’re going to have three master concerts,and we usually bring international music artists and well-known artists to Northwest Arkansas like Rukmini Vijayakumar on August 30th at the Fayetteville Library with four other musicians. On September 12th, we are doing a music concert of Indian instruments and on October 6th, at Crystal Bridges, we are bringing musicians Nirmala Rajasekar and Vittal Ramamoorthy. We are looking for [community members] that can come and support, watch, and help.
5. What is Ra-Ve’s position in the changing culture of NWA? What are the goals for the future of Ra-Ve and its expansion?
We hope to create an environment in NWA where diversity is normalized and not a strange thing. We do a lot of events in Bentonville, like First Friday. Now, we are approaching Springdale and Fayetteville for opportunities and to promote more. In Fayetteville, we are performing at the local schools for multicultural celebrations. So slowly, we are starting to approach some schools for the workshops and lectures. If we bring musicians from India, we make sure we take them to the local schools.
We are also working to raise money, that’s our major goal. How do we raise the money and promote Indian cultural arts? We talk to other organizations and they want to work with us so now slowly, we’re getting more support. We just need to be patient and bring more awareness.
Please check out more from Ra-Ve Cultural Foundation and get involved!
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