New York Kathak Festival

New York Kathak Festival

The New York Kathak Festival is a nonprofit organization that presents and promotes dancers, scholars, and practitioners of Kathak, a classical dance tracing its origins to India. We produce a festival bringing together established and emerging artists from across the United States and beyond. The Kathak Festival is produced by the American Kathak community, inspiring creative exchange between local Kathak artists and diverse New York audiences. The festival is run by a volunteer team of young professionals who live and work in the New York metropolitan area. The Kathak Festival is our passion above and beyond our professional careers in industries ranging from fashion, technology, finance, fitness, education, journalism, design, and medicine—and we take it as our responsibility to set a strong foundation for this rich classical tradition to thrive in NYC.

Show Highlights

(0:00:00) Podcast Intro

(0:03:13) What is The New York Kathak Festival?

(0:04:44) Kathak Background and connection of the NYKF team

(0:09:50) Evolution of the festival from 2019-2023

(0:11:49) How does being in New York help the Kathak Festival

(0:15:37) About the NYKF Team

(0:17:40) The importance of having a clear ask : Fundraising

(0:18:35) Donating to NYKF

(0:20:11) Having a fair and unbiased artist selection process

(0:24:12) Being immersed in Kathak for a weekend

(0:26:18) Dedicating time to Kathak

(0:27:27) Logistics and festival details

(0:29:54) Pop Up Concerts

(0:34:03) Curating Festivals with the audience in mind

(0:36:17) On the topic of educating audiences

(0:38:23) The beauty in being able to enjoy an art form without context

(0:40:05) Future plans

(0:41:52) The importance of artists to the festival

Find out more at https://the-kathak-podcast.pinecast.co