About
To inspire young people through exposure to the classical, folk and intangible heritage of India and the world.
SPIC MACAY (Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth) is a voluntary, non-political, non-profit youth movement founded in 1977 by Dr. Kiran Seth. It brings classical and folk music and dance, yoga, meditation, crafts, heritage walks and classic cinema into schools and colleges - overwhelmingly free of charge - through a decentralised network of student and volunteer chapters in hundreds of towns in India and abroad.
Beginning with a single concert at IIT Delhi in 1978, SPIC MACAY grew into one of the world's largest volunteer cultural movements. Its model is distinctive: students themselves organise concerts and workshops by leading classical and folk artists in their own campuses, making the encounter direct and personal rather than ticketed and remote.
Its flagship VIRASAT series (launched in Dehradun in 1995) runs immersive, days-long cultural festivals on campuses; its Gurukul Scholarship Programme (since 1986) sends students to live with a master for a month; and its Rural School Intensives extend the work to underserved children. Across thousands of events a year it reaches millions of young people.
Founding & Leadership
Dr. Kiran Seth, an IIT-trained academic, founded SPIC MACAY in 1977 at IIT Delhi after a Dhrupad concert by the Dagar brothers in New York inspired him to bring classical traditions to young Indians. The first SPIC MACAY concert was held at IIT Delhi in 1978. He built a non-commercial, volunteer-run movement on the conviction that exposure to classical arts is 'food for the soul' and a discipline for the mind. He is a Padma Shri awardee.
A registered non-profit run by a national body and a network of self-organising student and city volunteer chapters.
Leadership & Trustees
Initiatives & Portfolio
Free performances and demonstrations by leading classical and folk artists in educational institutions, organised by student volunteers.
Immersive, multi-day campus cultural festivals spanning classical and folk arts, cinema, crafts and heritage walks (since 1995).
Students spend a month living and learning with a master in the guru-shishya tradition (since 1986).
Annual gatherings of students, teachers and artists immersing participants in classical and folk forms.
Extends the movement's programming to underserved rural and government-school children.
Cultural Funding
Cultural verticals
Impact & Metrics
Partnerships & Network
Partner institutions
Government partners
Funders & patrons
Works with UGC, AICTE, AIIMS and Assam State Universities among Centrally-funded institutions and private universities; runs school programmes with CBSE, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan and Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti; has collaborated with Auroville on cultural-heritage programming.
Credentials & Compliance
CSR-eligible · Schedule VII(v) - art & culture
A volunteer-driven non-profit whose strength is reach-per-rupee rather than scale of budget. Specific 80G/12A/FCRA particulars are [Data Not Publicly Available]. Its decentralised, low-overhead model is a CSR funder's high-leverage option; its main institutional risk is founder-succession rather than finance.
A natural CSR partner under Schedule VII(v) - its low-cost, high-reach, youth-focused model offers unusually broad cultural impact per rupee.
Recognition
One of the world's largest volunteer youth movements for classical and folk arts.
[Atlas Assessment] SPIC MACAY has done something no ticketed institution could: over nearly five decades it has placed millions of young Indians in the same room as living masters of their own classical and folk traditions. By embedding the arts in education through a free, volunteer model, it has quietly built the future audience and practitioner base for the entire classical-arts ecosystem.
SPIC MACAY scores highest on reach and strongly on longevity and impact - its model converts modest resources into vast, youth-focused exposure, which is exactly why it is a high-leverage CSR partner. Its caveats are organisational: a budget and infrastructure far smaller than its footprint, and a movement still deeply identified with its founder. How it institutionalises beyond Dr. Kiran Seth will determine its next fifty years.