Our Story
thinkIndia emerged from a passion for the arts, faith in the power of the arts to unite communities, belief in service to the community and a commitment to leverage these for charitable giving.
Our exciting vehicles to execute those ideas include:
staging Broadway-style theatrical productions in major theaters in the DFW metroplex
creating art & culture exhibits and associated programming of events in venues such as museum galleries
service and community projects
Proceeds from these efforts are used to support the charitable causes we identify.
Community involvement has been a key approach to our strategy. Our activities provide an excellent opportunity for local talent to come together. By framing their efforts in the larger context of giving back to the community, participants feel more involved and passionate. This results in an infectious enthusiasm that brings more and more volunteers together in supporting a common passion and cause.
By actively involving participants of all ages, children in the community also get involved. In theater productions, 150 to 250 people (onstage and backstage) have participated – in a few of them, as many as 200 people performed. In our museum exhibit efforts, over 200 volunteers – local artists, musicians, performers, members of the community – came together to create stunning displays and engaging and entertaining programming.
In 2017, 2018 and 2019, we collaborated with a mainstream theatre organization, Mainstage Irving Las Colinas, the resident company of the City of Irving and produced a show each year, as the first show of their season. Rang De – Color Me India! in 2017, The Red Pashmina in 2018, and The Royal Dilemma in 2019 attracted audiences of 1200 – 1800 people from the community. The Irving Arts Board awarded this collaboration an innovation grant of $ 10000 in 2018.
In 2020, we worked with the Irving Archives and Museum to create India a la Art – A Culture Collective, an exhibit and programming package in support of the museum’s presentation of the Smithsonian exhibit, “Beyond Bollywood”. Originally scheduled to run from February 15 to April 12, the presentation was interrupted by the pandemic, and will be open to the public once the museum opens. Details are available on this website. This was funded in part by an innovation grant from the Irving Arts Board.
Since its inception, the foundation has donated over $ 300,000 to various charitable projects in the US and in India. These included curating, collecting and donating books from India to local libraries, as well as supporting funding for arts related projects for local schools.
