About
To inspire young people through exposure to the classical, folk and intangible heritage of India and the world.
SPIC MACAY, the Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth, is a nationwide voluntary movement founded in 1977 by Kiran Seth, then a professor at IIT Delhi. Run largely by student and volunteer chapters, it brings master exponents of Indian classical music, dance, folk arts and crafts to schools, colleges and universities across India and abroad, seeking to inspire young people through direct contact with the country's greatest artists.
Kiran Seth founded SPIC MACAY in 1977, inspired by the conviction that exposure to the classical and folk arts could enrich the inner lives of young people. From a single chapter it grew into a vast volunteer-run movement holding tens of thousands of concerts, lecture-demonstrations, residencies and heritage activities in educational institutions, sustaining an audience for the classical arts among the young and becoming one of the largest cultural movements of its kind.
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.
Run by volunteers and funded through donations, grants and institutional support; a not-for-profit movement.
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
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SPIC MACAY has played a singular role in sustaining and renewing the audience for India's classical and folk arts, connecting generations of young people directly with master artists and the country's cultural heritage.
[Atlas Perspective] SPIC MACAY is a cultural operator, a volunteer arts-appreciation movement that organises concerts and education, not a funder. It is a foundational partner for arts-education, audience-development and classical-arts initiatives nationwide.