The Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre, a groundbreaking multidisciplinary centre, was inaugurated in Mumbai on Friday in the presence of dignitaries and family members of the Ambani family. The Center will strongly emphasise community nurturing programmes, including school and college outreach and competitions, awards for art teachers, in-residency Guru-shishya programmes, art literacy programmes for adults, etc. with an exquisite showcase of the best of India across music, theatre, fine arts, and crafts to audiences from India and the rest of the world. The Center is highly inclusive with free access for children, students, seniors, and people with disabilities.
Speaking on the event, Mrs. Nita Ambani remarked, “It has been a holy journey bringing this Culture Center to life. We were eager to establish a venue for showcasing and honouring our creative and cultural legacy in literature, folklore, arts and crafts, science, and spirituality, as well as in film, music, dance, and theatre. Isha Ambani described the NMACC as “so much more than a place – it is the culmination of my mother’s passion for arts, culture, and her love for India. A space where we display the best of India to the world and invite the finest of the world to India.” She has always wanted to build a community-friendly platform for viewers, performers, artists, and other creatives. Her goal for the NMACC is to exhibit the world the finest that India has to offer and to draw the world to India.
The Great Indian Musical: Civilization to Nation, an exhibition of costume art titled “India in Fashion,” and a visual art performance titled “Sangam/Confluence” are all part of the premiere programming. Swadesh, a specially curated art and craft exhibition, will also be included. Together, the programming explores the many cultural traditions of India and their influence on the rest of the globe while presenting the variety of venues within the Cultural Centre.
The inaugural programming was designed to draw attention to India’s profound cultural influence and to provide an opportunity for the artist to interact with the audience. Swadesh, a one-of-a-kind art and craft exhibition, honours eight exquisite crafts that the Reliance Foundation has long sponsored, including Pichwai, Banarasi weaving, Pattachitra, Sozni embroidery, Blue Ceramics, Kal Baffi, Paithani, and candles produced by people who are blind or visually challenged.
Inside the Jio World Centre, in the centre of Mumbai’s Bandra Kurla Complex, the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre is a groundbreaking, multidisciplinary arts facility. Three performance venues can be found in the Culture Centre: the grand 2,000-seat Grand Theatre, the cutting-edge 250-seat Studio Theatre, and the exciting 125-seat Cube. Moreover, it has the Art House, a four-story specialised visual arts venue constructed to international museum standards with the intention of holding a changing selection of exhibitions and installations by the best creative talent throughout the globe and India. A diverse collection of public artwork by well-known Indian and international artists is displayed across the Center’s concourses, including “Kamal Kunj,” one of the biggest Pichwai paintings in India.
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Feroz Abbas Khan created and directed “The Great Indian Musical: Civilization to Nation,” India’s largest-ever musical, which has a cast of superb Indian performers and a Tony and Emmy award-winning staff. The 2,000-seat Grand Theatre at the Centre will host the global premiere of the immersive theatrical production. This theatre also has a top-notch stage and India’s biggest proscenium. To highlight India’s cultural journey through history, the high-profile performance will unite 350+ performers, including an epic 55-piece live orchestra from Budapest, with renowned Indian talent such as Ajay-Atul (music), Mayuri Upadhya, and Vaibhavi Merchant. Also, the visual extravaganza will include more than 1,100 outfits created by renowned fashion designer Manish Malhotra.
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India in Fashion is a first-of-its-kind exhibition that will feature over 140 pieces of costume that illustrate India’s influence on the world’s fashion imagination. It is curated by eminent author and costume expert Hamish Bowles, and it was created by award-winning exhibition designer Patrick Kinmonth and Rooshad Shroff. The works with Indian influences came from some of the world’s largest institutions and secret private collections. The stunning exhibition set will include garments from well-known labels like Chanel and Dior as well as significant historical items from as far back as the 18th century.
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Sangam/Confluence – Celebrating the inauguration of the Art House, a dedicated venue for visual arts, it will include a number of works by five Indian and five foreign artists honouring the many cultural impulses and traditions of India. The display, which was organised by Jeffrey Deitch and Ranjit Hoskote, is motivated by the notion of unions, which has a long history in Indian culture. This exhibition is really a melting pot of distinct storylines, including works by globally renowned artists like Anselm Kiefer and Francesco Clemente, whose sculptures will be shown in India for the first first time.
