Independent scholar, Dr. Arshiya Sethi, twice a recipient of the Fulbright Fellowship, writes and speaks on cultural issues, in India and internationally, on her research and administrative experience with dance. After three decades as a consultant, building tangible and intangible cultural equities, of which her work at India Habitat Centre, and collaborative city festivals, including in Delhi and Guwahati, is most notable.
She was for a while, dance critic for India’s leading daily Times of India, and presenter of the National programme of Music and Dance on Doordarshan. She concluded her four-decade association with National TV as Commentator and Advisor on DD Bharati, India’s 24 hours National Arts channel. She was Advisor to Kathak Kendra when it moved to its new premises, and curated some of Kathak Kendra’s festivals including the Golden Jubilee programmes.
She established and manages the Kri Foundation, which promotes 'Artivism'- a new word coined for her work in Arts and Activism, that she initiates under her not-for-profit organization, Kri Foundation, known braiding Arts, Activism and Knowledge creation, now in its twenty third year.
She works with several international Universities, think tanks, forums and scholars to carry forward the discourse around the arts, by being a strong independent voice of ethical and responsible artistic leadership, writing a featured column about new ideas in dance, for the largest portal of Indian dance- Narthaki. She worked with NCERT on the Position Paper presented by the National Focus Group on Arts in Education and Arts Integrated Learning under NEP 2020.
She has been in the vanguard to establish a new US University hosted academic journal on South Asian Dance and its Intersections (SADI), located in the stable of online journals coming from the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. SADI has just come up with its third edition. SADI frames new ways of writing about South Asian dance and encourages South Asian voices, even in South Asian regional languages.
Her own scholarly research focuses, through a multi-disciplinary lens, on cultural ecology at the intersection of politics and cultural expressions. She has worked on Assam for her doctoral thesis, specifically on the dance style of Sattriya, looking at its patronage in precolonial, colonial and post-colonial times, focusing on it through a political lens. Her post-doctoral studies were on the ways in which artistic practices, especially dance, links with governance, gender, environment, cultural rights and social justice paradigms.
A frequent contributor to several anthologies including “Dance Matters Too” (Routledge, 2018), “Indian Dances: Transnational Routes” (TBP by OUP; Expected to be out in December 2025), she co-edited and contributed to the international anthology “Dance Under the Shadow of the Nation” (2019), a Dance Studies Association’s (DSA) publication series, Conversations Across the Field of Dance Studies, and is contracted with Routledge for a book on her doctoral work on the dance of the Sattras. She has recently written collaboratively, “Non-Gharanedaar: Pt Mohanrao Kallianpurkar the Paviour of Kathak” a biography on the life, art and times of this Kathak pioneer (Sterling, 2022), that is now slated to go into its second edition. The book is the first book on Indian dance to have a cloud attached to it that carries an organically growing audio-visual archive around Pt Mohanrao Kallianpurkar.
She is also engaged in ground-based efforts to create a more informed, empowered, aware and ethical community on critical issues around the arts. Towards this she has been pushing issues of Arts and the Law, especially since the Covid pandemic, when due to the retreat from performance other issues, like IPR in the arts, contract, rights and responsibilities of artistes and arts leaders, sexual harassment in the arts, were some that came to the forefront. Dr. Sethi, navigated through these issues, building awareness through workshops and lectures, slowly developing networks, and a deeper understanding of the issue. Some of her work by its nature must remain under the radar for issues of safety, confidentiality and to avoid defamation. That is why a large part of her daily efforts do not find reflection even in her CV. However, she has set up Unmute.help as a one-point portal for issues of the law around rights and responsibilities of artists and arts leaders.
She is on the board of several organisations listed below:
• Founder Trustee and current Chair, Y.P. Foundation
• Board Member, Delhi Poetry Festival
• Advisory Board Member, Neemrana Music Foundation
• Member Advisory Board for the Katkatha Puppet Theatre
• Jury Member, for the Serendipity Festival Grant
• Consulting Editor for Mukoli: The Magazine for Peace, brought out by the Kennesaw State University, Georgia, USA.
She is a member of several institutions listed below:
• Life member Indian National Trust for Arts, Culture and Heritage
• Member, India International Centre
• Associate Member, India Habitat Centre
Due to the broad spectrum of interests and knowledge, she is a popular speaker on the arts and their philosophy, both in India and overseas, both on popular and academic forums. Among the conferences she frequently speaks at are the South Asian Conference, Madison, Wisconsin and at the conference of the Dance Studies’ Association.
Accolades & Appreciation
