Established in 1985 as a way of bringing people across North West England together with a common love for the arts, Milap has grown into the UK’s leading Indian Arts and Culture company, with a remit that continues to focus on performance, learning and development.
Our Objective
The advancement of education and culture among people in Merseyside, in the United Kingdom and around the world, by the promotion of Indian Arts, Music and Crafts.
Our Vision
Milapfest is Britain’s leading Indian arts development trust, producing world class performances, education and artist development opportunities across the UK. We are a British Art Organisation specialising in Indian Arts with a strong track record of creating and delivering ground breaking artistic projects nationally.
Milap’s aim is to bringing people together by providing audiences, aspiring artists and teachers with memorable and inspirational experiences of Indian arts through a dynamic programme of performances, tours, commissions, festivals and innovative educational projects.
In the exciting and challenging task of building and strengthening today’s multicultural Britain, our committed endeavour is to unite the hearts and minds of all communities through an exhilarating celebration of arts and culture.
Our Work
Our mission to unite hearts through arts drives everything we do. We believe in the transformative power of the arts to bring people together, shift perspectives, and create lasting positive change.
To ensure our work reaches and impacts as many people as possible, we focus on three main areas: experiences, learning, and development.
EXPERIENCE
We strongly believe in the power of the arts to unite people from all walks of life, hence our motto of ‘Uniting Hearts through Arts’. Producing cultural experiences which are inspiring, soulful and enriching while bringing people together is the essence of our work and purpose. We bring the very best of Indian arts to audiences across the UK via a rich and varied year round programme of concerts, festivals, talks, tours and workshops.
Since 1985, we have been able to present India’s established talents, whilst simultaneously providing a platform for, and championing the next generation of British and Indian talent. Marrying tradition with modernity, Milap’s mission to blend a unique fusion of Indian classical music and contemporary sound has pathed the way for a new appreciation of Indian music.
Music For The Mind and Soul
The Music for the Mind and Soul concert series has become a key benchmark of our work, with these concerts giving audiences across Liverpool, Manchester and London an authentic and immersive Indian classical experience in an intimate setting.
Indika
Indika is one of Europe’s largest festivals of Indian classical arts, taking place biennially in Liverpool for an entire week during November. The festival offers something for everyone with an incredible mix of music and dance performance, talks, workshops and film all of which feature both internationally renowned and British talent.
Talk and Discussion
From celebrating treasured icons and Gurus, to diving deep into the nuances of Indian classical arts, Milap also offers a broader portal into Indian music, history and culture through a variety of tributes, lec-dems and discussion-based events.
LEARN
Since inception, Milap has been fuelled by a desire to sustain the legacy of Indian Arts and Culture by celebrating experienced performers and Gurus; all with the aim of educating and guiding the next generation of talent. The shared knowledge that Milap offers its students is unique in its authenticity, offering all those with an interest in Indian Arts and Culture both a formative and professional experience.
Milap offers a range of inclusive opportunities to budding musicians and performers, with both free and paid workshops and masterclasses for primary, secondary and graduate level students, as well as taster and development programmes for all ages and abilities.
Arts School
A foundation of this work is Milap’s Arts School; a term-time education programme based in Liverpool. Featuring weekly classes of Indian performing arts, the Arts School allows students to work closely with experienced teachers in a vast range of forms that currently includes Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Folk Dance, Tabla and Hindustani Vocal. Classes take place both face-to-face and virtually, providing students with a professional environment that supports learning and nurtures potential.
Instruments India
Created in 2013 as a collaborative project between Milap and Liverpool Hope University, Instruments INDIA is a rich and varied musical archive that captures the inspirational sounds and histories of instruments from the entire Indian subcontinent, including how they are played and the types of settings they are usually heard in.
Sannidhi
Sannidhi is the Milap Institute for Indian arts, based at Liverpool Hope University. It brings together the worlds of performance, education, artist development and research and includes an extensive archive of rare live music and dance recordings.
Sannidhi was created with the support of the Liverpool City Council and in partnership with Liverpool Hope University.
DEVELOP
As a result of Milap’s educational opportunities, we are proud to have supported and propelled the careers of numerous musicians, singers and dancers, and have given a platform to many young and upcoming performers for over 30 years. Innovative education projects, plus our strong ties to the Indian music and dance industry, provide musicians with sustained career development opportunities – right from budding young artists through to becoming seasoned professionals and beyond.
Samyo
Founded in 2002 to provide young people with the opportunity to perform, learn and develop as individual artists, SAMYO is Milap’s National Youth Orchestra for Indian Music and is the only one of its kind in the world. SAMYO has in many ways redefined what is possible within what is normally considered quite a ‘strict’ musical tradition with many boundaries. Orchestras are not the norm in Indian classical music, and SAMYO features an array of compositions inspired by North and Sound Indian classical, western and world music, completely breaking away from tradition and paving the way forward for young musicians to explore and push the boundaries of what’s possible with their music while remianing true to their Indian classical training. In 2012, it became one of only nine organisations in England to be awarded National Youth Music Organisation status by Arts Council England. The annual programme of weekend events and a weeklong Summer School culminates in an awards programme.
Tarang
Tarang is the UK’s National Ensemble for Indian Music. Featuring brilliant young musicians, the ensemble’s innovative music making serves as both a fascinating experience for the audience and an intensive artists’ development programme.
Founded in 2004, Tarang identified a gap in the professional development of young musicians, creating a fresh, innovative Indian Classical Sound, while providing a performance platform for professionals. Tarang debuted at the Leicester International Music Festival in 2004 and has since performed at The Lowry, Southbank Centre, Sage Gateshead and many others across the UK. Through blending North and South Indian music traditions, a unique Classical sound is created through the amalgamation of jazz fusion, western classical and folk. Moreover, through the differing backgrounds of the artists, which include traditional Indian Classical training, in the Guru-Shishya style, to Western Classically trained musicians, there is the merging of tradition and modernity.
Sabrang
Sabrang is the UK’s Indian music Choir, formed as a result of the many amazingly talented vocalists Milap discovered across the country. Sabrang was formed in 2014 when the Samyo and Tarang choir of solo and duet singers performed the special ‘Charishnu’ inaugural composition. Sabrang is open to all, whether artists have an interest in, are fully trained, or have experience of Indian music.
Dance India
DANCE India is an internationally renowned intensive training programme in Indian classical dance which began in 2003. As a unique dance movement, the school supports the learning, development and performance of Indian classical dancers at any stage of their development. The school also offers exclusive masterclasses with Guru’s which are aimed at advanced and professional dancers.
MILAP Arts Awards
The Arts Awards were established by Milap in 2015, to acknowledge the hard work and dedication shown by recipients in promoting and nurturing Indian Arts in Britain, as well as provide recognition and opportunities to expand and strengthen their work in the years to come. The Awards are supported by Arts Council England.
Our Story
Our aim has always been to Unite Hearts through Arts, by giving our audiences memorable, inspirational experiences in Indian Arts through a year round programme of performances, tours, commissions, festivals and innovative educational projects which create and provide sustained career development opportunities for artists learning and practising different genres of Indian Arts.
We’re a small team with a big dream, and over the last 35 years we’ve grown from doing weekend community events a few times a year to producing concerts and other events across the UK throughout the year, creating an orchestra, ensemble and choir, producing albums, launching careers , creating internationally renowned educational programmes and we’ve still got lots more coming!
This timeline, though not exhaustive, covers some of the highlights of our work over the years.
1985 – 1990
1985
Milap begins with “Indian Cultural Evenings”. Founded by Dr Prashant Nayak and a group of like-minded friends to provide meaningful cultural activities which enhance friendship, understanding and cooperation between the Host community and people of South Asian origin who have made their home in Britain.
1987
This quickly becomes a seven-day festival of Indian arts in Liverpool, incorporating music, dance, films, visual arts, crafts and the presence of Indian food at all events. Over the next 6 years, the week-long festival becomes a year round programme of diverse art forms, as Milap’s audiences continue to grow and share interest in South Indian Arts.
1990
Milap become revenue clients of Merseyside Arts, and are encouraged to seek charitable trust status.
1991 – 1996
1991
The ‘Music for the Mind and Soul’ concert series is born.
The organisation receives charitable status.
1993
Milap Festival Trust becomes a registered charity and an incorporated company, with the aim of creating a programme that supports arts and culture throughout Merseyside.
1997 – 2003
1997
From 1997, the organisation has been regularly funded by Arts Council England.
1999 – 2000
The move to Manchester, working closely with two iconic venues: The Bridgewater Hall & The Lowry. Milap’s audience continues to grow throughout the North West.
2002
The ground-breaking dance event Dance Yatra 2002 takes place, presenting 300 dancers from all over Britain to an excited audience of over 1,500 people.
A successful application to Arts Council England for grant funding allows for the creation of a National South Asian Music Youth Orchestra (SAMYO) is created by Milap, premiering at The Lowry.
2003
Following the creation of SAMYO, a new senior Ensemble called TARANG for musicians aged between 18-30 was created.
Milap produced and hosted ‘Sangeet Sabha’, the very first National Conference for South Asian Music at the Bridgewater Hall in 2003, followed in 2004 at The Lowry and in 2006 at the Peepul Centre in Leicester.
2004 – 2010
2005
Milap premieres the Music for the Mind & Soul concert series in London, at the Southbank Centre.
2007
DANCE INDIA is created; an International Summer School at The Lowry.
2009
Tarang produces its first full length album and beings touring
2010
Milap’s 25th anniversary season kicks-off with performances, events and festivals across the country.
Sabrang, the U.K’s Indian music choir, is loosely formed at Milap’s Music India Summer School.
The same year, the organisation moves to new offices at Liverpool Hope University’s Creative Campus. Milap takes up residence at the new state of the art Capstone Theatre.
2011 – 2015
2011
Milap extends its reach internationally by creating a partnership with Apsaras Arts of Singapore, allowing for international collaboration and exchange between artists, productions and education projects.
The international edition of Dance India is created – Dance India Asia Pacific.
The Arts School, weekly Indian music and dance classes, launches at Hope University.
2012
‘Undiscovered India’ launches; a season of events featuring rarely seen performers and artists perform across the North West.
2013
SAMYO celebrate their ten year anniversary with a new album ‘SAMYO TEN’ and a gala concert at The Southbank Centre.
The first Indika Festival premiers in Liverpool featuring a week full of concerts, workshops and talks featuring some of the biggest names in Indian classical music and dance
2014
The Milapfest Institute for Indian Arts, Sannidhi, is created in partnership with and housed at Liverpool Hope University. The institute welcomes students, academics and Indain arts aficianados to dive in and learn more about Indian arts via a large physical collection of books , dvds and cds as well as explore a digital audio archive of over 5000 live recordings donated by the TAG centre in Chennai, India.
2015
Instruments INDIA, a brand new digital sound archive and educational resource featuring a variety of Indian classical and folk instruments is created.
2016 – NOW
2016
Milap creates the ‘National Indian Arts Awards’, giving recognition to teachers, practitioners, and students across the UK for their dedication, hard work and achievements in Indian arts. The awards ceremony is held at the Southbank Centre in London.
2017
Milap are commissioned to produce the Beatles Ragafest and Indian Festival Village as part of the Sgt Pepper at 60 celebrations across Liverpool.
2019
Alok Nayak is announced as New CEO & Artistic Director of Milap
2020
Milap responds to the COVID-19 pandemic by moving the MFMS series online, with several concerts recorded live for YouTube. Two brand new online series are launched; Diwali Online and 12 Days of Milap as well as online learning opportunities.
2021
Instruments INDIA sample pack competition takes place, inviting young musicians to create a new piece of music using Milap’s rich Instruments INDIA archive.
2022
Milap announces partnership with Liverpool’s brand new venue, the Yoko Ono Lennon Centre at the Tung Auditorium with the aim of presenting an array of Indian music performances and productions along with premieres of new works by SAMYO and Tarang and a series of events throughout the year to include the biennial Indika Festival.
An Instruments INDIA sample pack is made available on internationally renowned sampling platform, Loopmasters.
and the story continues…
Our Team
Shilpa Wahal
Cultural Coordinator
Anjaly Aniyan
Arts School Coordinator
Our Support
It goes without saying that we couldn’t do what we do without the amazing and immense support of our principal funders, partners, donors, audience members and well-wishers. Your continued support has meant we have been able to reach out, share and unite people from all backgrounds up and down the UK for more than 30 years through the power of the arts. Here’s to the next 30 and beyond!
Principal Funders
We gratefully acknowledge the support of our principal supporters and funders, who enable us to invest our time and efforts into making a difference to people’s lives.
Milap is proud to be part of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio Programme (NPO), which consists of a rich variety of organisations across England, reflecting the quality and excellence of the arts in England and shaped by shared goals set out their strategic framework. Many of Milap’s key initiatives are supported by ACE, including our orchestras (SAMYO and Tarang), much of our main performance, and professional development work for Artists.
« Arts Council England champions, develops and invests in artistic and cultural experiences that enrich people’s lives. Great art and culture inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short, it makes life better. »
Extract from www.artscouncil.org.uk
Milap is supported by funding from its home city of Liverpool via Liverpool City Council’s / Culture Liverpool’s Culture & Arts Investment Programme (CAIP). The support we have received via CAIP over many years has enabled us to bring a world class year-round Indian arts and education programme to Liverpool, establishing the city as a renowned global hub for Indian arts activity. Audiences in Liverpool have been introduced to the very best of what Indian arts and culture has to offer via Milap which has ultimately helped to build awareness, spark interest and curiosity, develop talent and create life-long fans of Indian music and dance.
« The CAIP scheme has had a major positive impact on the City, and has contributed to a vibrant cultural offer, particularly in terms of visitor numbers, leveraged funding and community participation. »
From Liverpool City Council www.liverpool.gov.uk
Partner Organisations
We are thrilled to be working with some of the UK’s most creative and dynamic arts organisations. Our partnerships are meaningful and have a real sense of purpose, brought about by a shared vision and passion to share beautiful art with the widest variety of audiences possible with the ultimate goal of uniting more hearts through the arts.
Arts Venues
Universities / Higher Education
Arts & Culture Organisations
- National Youth Jazz Collective (NYJC)
- Apsaras Arts, Singapore
- Paramaathma Studios, Chennai
Would you like to donate or help support Milap?
Please contact us!
