The Beginnings

Dr Kiran Seth, a young graduate from IIT Kharagpur, was studying for his doctorate at the University of Columbia, when he chanced to attend a Dhrupad concert by Ustad Nasir Aminuddin Dagar and Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar. When Dr Seth returned to India to teach at IIT Delhi in 1977, he involved the students and SPIC MACAY was born.
The initial activities of SPIC MACAY were confined to IIT – Delhi. Soon, however, other schools and colleges started asking for similar activities to be initiated in their institutions. Artists began to give of their time for a very nominal honorarium - they too were convinced of the need to sensitize young men and women to our cultural heritage. The movement spread in Delhi and, over the years, across the length and breadth of the country. SPIC MACAY today has 200 chapters, a number of them overseas.

SPIC MACAY Today

SPIC MACAY conducts two major activities each year called FEST and VIRASAT simultaneously in many cities and towns of India. The FEST series takes place in the months of January to April while the VIRASAT takes place from July to November While the FEST series is largely focused on Indian classical music and dance; during VIRASAT we expose students to a wider variety of art forms like Yoga, meditation, theatre, folk arts etc in addition to classical music and dance.

SPIC MACAY concerts now for the past many years have become regular features in Mumbai’s music calendar. In 2007, having completed 30 years of existence, the movement enjoys tremendous goodwill among the artist community as well as schools and colleges. The organization has found patronage from both Government and Industry. The recently concluded series of SPIC MACAY, Virasat 2007, had over 30 lecture demonstrations exposing various art forms like classical music, classical dance, folk arts in schools and colleges across Mumbai.

FEST 2008 promises to be a treat to music lovers across Mumbai with an impressive line up of artistes. Vocalist Shubha Mudgal, violinist Dr N Rajam, flautist Ronu Majumdar are few other names in the enviable list, SPIC MACAY has lined up for this series. The series will go on till 20th of March with concerts to be held in many schools and colleges across the length and breadth of the city. Some of the venues are IIT, NITIE (both Powai), UICT (Matunga), Anjuman Islam (VT), IGIDR (Goregaon), ITM (Khargar), Bal Bharati Public School (Kharghar).
SPIC MACAY has weekly meetings in every city where the volunteers meet to discuss ides, share experiences. It is also a platform for new volunteers to associate with the movement. The meetings in Delhi are held every Saturday at Lady Irwin College from 4:00 – 6:00 pm while those at Mumbai at UICT, Matunga on Saturdays from 4:30-6:30 pm. We welcome interested people to join us there.