SEATTLE (TIP): The 1st India Culture Week in the State of Nebraska was inaugurated at Creighton University, Omaha on 21 October 2026. Jointly organized by the Consulate General of India, in partnership with Creighton University, it showcased an Indian Film Festival, Indian Food Festival, Unveiling of the India Corner, Incredible India Photo Exhibit and a cultural dance performance showcasing the various flavors of Indian classical and contemporary dance forms.
The India Culture Week began with the unveiling of the India Corner at Creighton’s Reinert-Alumni Memorial Library, the first India Corner in Nebraska. A gift from the Government of India to the Creighton University, it holds a specially curated collection of books on India’s culture, history, cinema, art, ecology, spirituality and cuisine and will help bring Indian literature and scholarship closer to the young students and faculty.
An “Incredible India” Moving Photo Exhibit was also on display at the Harper Center Atrium. It featured select photographs clicked by an acclaimed Seattle-based photographer of India’s people, places, heritage and everyday life, from the streets of New Delhi to the temples of Bhubaneswar. The photographs were taken during a CGI Seattle-organized US Pacific Northwest delegation visit to India in March 2026, which also included members from Nebraska, including the University’s Vice Provost Dr. Kari Costello.
The India Culture Week celebrations also featured a captivating cultural performance by the Gurukulam Center for Indian Arts, presenting a range of Indian dance traditions, including the classical forms of Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi and Mohiniyattam, Punjabi and other contemporary dances. The performance showed the diversity of India’s regional cultures and its centuries-old traditions of music and dance.
Students and faculty also enjoyed the India Food Festival, which served some of the finest Indian cuisine. The spread introduced guests to the distinctive spices, flavors and regional variety that have made Indian food popular around the world. The inaugural day concluded with the screening of the acclaimed Indian film Dangal (2016), as part of an Indian Film Festival at Creighton University.
It may be recalled that this unique template of India Culture Week at US Universities commenced at Seattle University in November 2024. Since then, India Film Festivals have reached students and communities across the US Pacific Northwest, including at prestigious venues like Museum of Pop Culture (Seattle, Washington), Shoreline College (Shoreline, Washington), University of Montana (Missoula, Montana), North Dakota State University (Fargo, North Dakota) and schools in the Bellevue and Northshore School Districts of Washington State as well as University of Nebraska – Lincoln (Nebraska).
This unique template of India Culture Week (ICW) celebrations aim to bring modern India and its culture, traditions and heritage, closer to young American minds. By giving students direct exposure to India’s literature, art, cuisine and cinema, the ICW initiative seeks to build interest among young Americans toward contemporary Indian studies and also strengthen people-to-people and educational ties and increase tourist traffic from the US Pacific Northwest into India.
(Based on a Press Release issue by Soumith Raju K, Press Officer at CGI Seattle)
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