About Sangeet Millennium
Sangeet Millennium seeks to increase awareness of and appreciation for the traditional music and dance of the Indian subcontinent by providing opportunities for diverse individuals—professional performing artists, both local and guest; students; and arts lovers—to participate in these art forms in collaborative performances, workshops, and festivals. Creative activities such as these not only increase understanding and appreciation of the traditions but also facilitate new kinds of collaborations both among local performers and between local and guest performers. In a two-concert series entitled “Music and Ragamala Paintings” in 2007, Sangeet Millennium is adding the medium of visual art to its programming, by including visual representations of the melodic form raga in Ragamala paintings.
Sangeet Millennium grew out of the Society for India Music, a non-profit organization founded in Albuquerque in 1990 and relocated to Austin in 1993. In 1999, cofounder and director Amie Maciszewski renamed the organization Sangeet, and in 2003, Sangeet Millennium. Programs are supported through City of Austin Cultural Contracts, under the umbrella of One World Theatre. The mission of Sangeet Millennium includes a strong educational component, through workshops offered by many of the distinguished visiting artists (including Maciszewski’s gurus Aashish Khan and Girija Devi, as well as Pranesh Khan), as well as Maciszewski’s ongoing classes and presentations of sitar and Hindustani vocal music.