2025 Year-in-review

Dear friends,

As we begin 2026, we would like to take a moment to reflect on what was truly a milestone year for SICA. 2025 marked SICA’s 50th year, and this golden jubilee was made especially meaningful through your continued support, participation, and enthusiasm for South Indian classical arts.

With your support, SICA hosted nine events in 2025, including:

  • Thyagaraja Aradhana

  • Composers Day, featuring a mini-concert by a violin-mridangam quartet

  • Four full-length concerts by visiting professional artists (Ramakrishnan Murthy, Abilash Giriprasad, Charumathi Raghuram, Akshara Samskriti, and accompanying artists).

  • Yuva Swaranjali and Nrtyanjali featured Ottawa’s own Yogashree Bharath, who presented an engaging harikatha on Sri Muthuswamy Dikshitar (full performance available here: https://youtu.be/3dUwZODpoZA), and a dance presentation by former Ottawa resident and SICA member Jeyanthi Ghatraju, along with her students and collaborators.

  • SICA’s 2nd annual Swara Sangam an informal gathering for advanced music students to sing and play together while exploring manodharmam. This event also honoured Muthuswamy Dikshitar.

  • A flagship highlight of the year was Kala Upasana, commemorating SICA’s 50th anniversary. This special celebration featured music and dance performances by members of our community who have sustained and shaped SICA over the decades. A unique and much-appreciated element of the program was a complete Bharatanatyam margam presented with live musicians. The evening was further enriched by reflections, stories, and reminiscences shared by SICA’s founders and long-standing members. The performances from Kala Upasana are available here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4S5dDwav20N7Os1tc4Nk_ftMjScIiZzE

Photos and videos from SICA events can be viewed on SICA’s social media pages:

We encourage you to follow SICA on these platforms so you don’t miss future event information and highlights.

Beyond SICA-hosted events, we created additional opportunities for members to experience Indian classical music and dance in Ottawa by partnering with TGIF. Through this partnership, SICA members received complimentary admission to both Maha Vasantotsav and Maha Bharatotsav.

We are pleased to share that SICA’s membership grew to 81 members in 2025, up from 64 the previous year, bringing us closer to our pre-pandemic membership levels.

None of this would have been possible without the incredible support of our members, audiences, and volunteers - those who cook, serve, decorate, make reminder calls, and help in countless other ways. We are especially grateful to the music and dance students, their gurus, and parents who consistently attend, participate, and support our events.

A special shout-out goes to the members of the inaugural SICA Shadow Committee: Yogashree Bharath, Ravikiran Lakshmanan, and Swathi Kashyap. This new initiative provided an opportunity for volunteers to be more closely involved in planning and executing SICA events, with the hope of inspiring future service on the executive committee. The Shadow Committee will continue in 2026, so please keep an eye out for this and other volunteer opportunities during the upcoming membership drive.

Thank you for making 2025 a year to remember. Here’s to another wonderful year of celebrating South Indian classical arts together!

Warm regards,

South India Cultural Association Executive Committee for 2025
Rajesh Ramaratnam, President
Pavitra Ramachandran, Treasurer
Ramya Krishnan, Secretary
Sayohn Ahilan, Director
Seena Nair, Director