Lumbini Arts Society.

Lumbini Arts Society was founded in Ottawa by Prof. V. Subramaniam and Jaya Subramaniam in 1979 and incorporated as a non-profit organization in 2000.

History & Accomplishments

Lumbini Arts Society is a respected presenter in Ottawa long associated with quality programming of Indian performing arts (classical music series and classical dance series). The music artists presented over the years were all top professionals from Ontario and other parts of Canada, US cities and visiting foreign artists. In these activities, Lumbini reaped the benefits of resource sharing with sister organizations in Ottawa and similar presenting organizations in Toronto and Montreal.

Lumbini has staged in Ottawa alone 26 dance dramas between 1975 and 2001. All these were co-productions with free lance dancers and different dance companies drawn from Ontario and other parts of Canada, nearby US cities and on occasions visiting foreign artists. Besides Ottawa, there have been performances in Montreal and Toronto as well.

Lumbini has hosted four famous visiting international dance troupes and arranged touring for them in 1976 ( The Dhananjayans), 1977 (The Narasimhacharis), 1984 (Komala Varadan & The Narasimhacharis) & 1993 (Kalanidhi Narayanan) in addition to presenting 12 music programs with famous Ontario and international artists.

During the past 30 years in Ottawa the founders, Prof. V. Subramaniam and Jaya Subramaniam also worked towards changing the composition of the audience to reflect Canada's diversity. Lumbini Arts Society's audience is no longer dominantly East Indian as was the case for Indian dance programs all over Canada.

Festivals and Conferences

Lumbini convened a three days Festival and conference on INDIAN DANCE IN AN INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT in November 1994. It brought together leading dancers from Europe and USA qualified in Indian classical, Modern dance and Ballet. In addition to grand evening performances and lecture demonstrations, it sponsored a competition for young dancers. The four winners of this competition were invited to dance and conduct workshops for a month at the Youth Dance Festival by the German Government in 1995.

In November 23-24-25, 2001 Lumbini convened a three day Festival and conference on PERFORMING ARTS, STATE & SOCIETY. Delegates came from all over the world. The relation of the performing arts to society and state was a specific cultural feature of each civilization but is changing rapidly in this age of globalization and consequently the form and contents of the arts has changed even more. The conference explored this area critically and methodically.

Board of Directors

Jon Alexander. Former Executive Director, Ottawa Fringe Festival

Dr. Somesh Bhargava, Pediatrician, Ottawa Hospital

V. K. Chari. Kathakali dance and music expert

Lloyd Stanford, Director and Producer, Third World Players

V. Subramaniam Founder, musicologist and Composer(died 2004)

Jaya Subramaniam, Artistic Director, Lumbini Arts Society 1979-date