Special Appeal for the Cleveland Thyagaraja Music Festival

The Cleveland Thyagaraja Music Festival has grown from its humble beginnings of a small gathering in the basement of a suburban church to its present status of the premier event. It has attracted a large number of participants as well as attendees from the entire North American continent. Yet, there is no change in the spirit of celebration, in the humility of approach, and in the groundswell of goodwill, friendship, trust, and understanding the festival has generated every year. The festival days resemble a reunion by various members of an extended family, who come from different places and enjoy the opportunity of meeting together.

The spirit of volunteerism and the outpouring of enthusiastic encouragement have made it possible for this annual festival to come this far. The Committee thankfully acknowledges your support for all these years.

The Aradhana Committee, however, faces the challenge of resources to cope with the magnitude and momentum of the festival and comes to you again for your continued cooperation and generous help. As the Festival has grown over the last two decades, it has taken on a greater role — that of the representative of Indian culture and heritage in North America. The festival is the largest of its kind in North America. It now extends over the better part of a week and hosts over 30 artists and 2000 rasikas. All this is not possible without your continued financial assistance.

The festival remained free and open to the public for twenty-six years. However, organizing such a large-scale event funded solely by voluntary contributions has proven infeasible. Due to an overwhelmingly large deficit accumulated over the last few years, we are now compelled to raise money by charging a ticket price for a select few concerts. The day of the Aradhana, as well as the vast majority of concerts remain free. We hope that this limited measure will help us recover some of our financial burden.

The Festival depends on the generosity of its patrons. With the festival becoming larger and inviting unique performances both from India and from within the United States to Cleveland, we appeal to you, the rasika, to help keep this festival in the spirit in which it was concieved.

Your tax deductible donation in favor of "Aradhana Committee" will be greatly appreciated.

We now accept donations online through Paypal. You can donate to the Aradhana Committee by clicking the "donate" button below. Major credit cards are accepted. You do not need to be a Paypal member to donate.