Nitin Karandikar, MD, PhD, professor and chair of the University of Iowa Department of Pathology, was recently awarded his second grant award from Humanities Iowa for his work building the Iowa Corridor Sangeet (ICS) program.

Karandikar is the founding director of ICS, a partnership between the Iowa-based non-profit, CARTHA, and a grassroots community effort also led by Karandikar and his wife Ashwini. The ICS strives to bring South Asian performing arts to Eastern Iowa to help the community gain exposure and understanding of these arts.

“The community’s reaction to this fledgling idea and the tangible support from university programs have been most humbling,” Karandikar says. “It is gratifying to make this small contribution toward enhancing quality of life in Iowa City and creating greater diversity of options.”

Since Fall 2017, ICS has conducted 11 free events, including performances of various genres of Indian music, a dance workshop, and a film screening all accompanied with discussions about the art and artists.

In addition to the grant, support for the programs come from voluntary contributions from the community, sponsorships from local financial institutions, and close collaboration and support from UI programs, such as the School of Music and the International Programs office through their South Asian Studies Program.

“We have an amazing group of advisors, volunteers, collaborators, and supporters and, having seen this successful beginning, we are all now even hungrier for this phenomenon to continue enriching our corridor,” Karandikar says.