Indian Heritage & Cultural Association-NJ

Indian Heritage & Cultural Association (IHCA-NJ) is a volunteer-based non-profit organization established in New Jersey in 2013. The Indian Cultural and Heritage Association-NJ (IHCA-NJ) promotes local talent and brings all communities together through the performing arts to discuss various social issues, including women empowerment, mental health, immigration, human trafficking, LGBTYQ+, etc.

Their first stride towards this goal was the 2016 Natya Darpan, a multilingual short-play festival. It was a project to fulfill this mission statement and was a collaboration between local theater groups to show the power of the arts despite linguistic barriers. Each Natya Darpan festival features many plays built to showcase intra-community struggles.

Their goal is to build bridges between people through performing arts. Natya Darpan became increasingly popular among theater communities throughout N.J. every year. Over 500 local artists have presented at Natya Darpan in the seven years since. Because of the consistently high quality of the show, they are proud that the last five Natya Darpan shows were sold out.

All their events highlighted social causes relevant to the language groups that performed them and showcased the idea that these issues and problems are felt on a multicultural level. Their future projects will continue making way for this goal, and IHCA will work tirelessly to promote the immense talent of local artists.