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NRI Trehan Couple, Alumni of University of Michigan donates $1M to The Kennedy Center to promote U.S.-India relationshipTo Encourage current and future collaborations between the University and India
Trehans support brightest students, creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship
Washington, Dec 6, 2017
NRIpress.com/ NRIpress.club-Surinder Kaur/Gary Singh Grewal
The Ranvir Trehan and Adarsh Trehan came to U-M from India in 1964 with about $1,000, crediting U-M as the springboard for their good fortune, donated $1 million to The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts from the Trehan Foundation to their alma mater to encourage current and future collaborations between the University and India. To the memory of President John F. Kennedy, the Kennedy Center is the busiest performing arts facility in the U.S. and annually hosts about 2,000 music, dance and theater performances for audiences totaling nearly two million.
 Ranvir Trehan is a technologist, an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, a general trustee on the board of the John F Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts. Ranvir is the retired Founder and CEO of SETA Corporation and was Vice Chairman of Apptis Holdings, Inc. Ranvir Trehan said: "We feel a tremendous debt of gratitude to the University of Michigan and hope this gift will help U-M help others."
- Ranvir Trehan, who studied operations engineering, went on to start SETA Corp. as a one-man information technology solutions provider in 1987. By 2004, when it merged with Apptis Inc., SETA had more than 600 employees and annual sales of about $86 million.
- Ranvir completed Ph.D. coursework at George Washington University.
- He received his Masters in Operations Research from the University of Michigan, and a MBA from the University of Dayton.
- He has also
- In 1961, Ranvir Trehan who graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Branch from the erstwhile Birla Engineering College, Pilani
- In 1957, Ranvir had also done his intermediate during at Pilani.
He donated a whopping US$ 50,000 for the prestigious campus networking project BITS Connect commissioned in the year 2004 and as on date is the single biggest donor in the alumni history of the Institute.
- Ranvir also served on the Board of the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts and is active in several charitable and cultural organizations. He joined CARE’s Board in 2009. CARE USA headquarters is located at 151 Ellis Street, NE, Atlanta, GA
President Obama appointed tech mogul Ranvir Trehan a trustee of the prestigious Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Trehan gave $33,100 to Obama’s campaigns and has also contributed $121,600 to the Democratic National Committee, according to New York Post, dated July 24, 2016.
 Mrs. Adarsh Trehan received a master's degree in Political Science from the University of Michigan and , now a Ford School Committee member.
The donation money will be used to organise events on India's history, traditions, literature, music, dance and culture at the top American institution for performing arts.Under this Program, 3 Project Include:
- An elections research project examining hundreds of millions of votes cast in India. The research will examine correlations between voting patterns and socioeconomic status.
- An archeological dig of prehistoric sites in India's Tungabhadra Corridor joining faculty and students from U-M, the Karnataka Department of Archaeology and Museums, The National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore; and Maharaja Sayajirao University in Vadodara, India.
- A collaborative project between U-M, Heidelberg University in Germany and SARAI/ Center for the Study of Developing Societies in New Delhi, India, to create a transnational digital archive for popular Indian visual culture.
Adarsh and Ravir recently established the Trehan Family Ford School Fund in the amount of $125,000. These generous funds will help support the Ford School Centennial Reunion celebration, as well as provide critical support for students.
The Kennedy Center:
It is one of the nation's busiest cultural institutions, both a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy and a world-class performing arts destination. Each year, the Center hosts more than 3,000 performances of music, dance, and theater across a multitude of stages – from grand venues like the Opera House, Eisenhower Theater, and Concert Hall – home of the National Symphony Orchestra and the Wasington National Opera – to more intimate spaces like the Family Theater, Terrace Theater, and KC Jazz Club
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Indian-American couple gifts Kennedy Centre $1 mn for India fund
Washington, Dec 6 (IANS) An Indian-American couple has gifted $1 million to the Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts to create an India Fund for producing and presenting Indian programming through 2025.
The gift from entrepreneur Ranvir Trehan, a leading Indian-American patron of the arts, his wife Adarsh and their Trehan Foundation would provide seed money for the fund.
"Our idea," said Trehan, a member of the Kennedy Centre's Board of Trustees, "is that there is reinforced programming - that there is more of it, both well-known artists as well as experimental forms, fusion forms.
"Now I see in India, there is also comedy in the English language that is coming up and so, maybe there is something to tap up."
The seed money, he hoped, would inspire others' gifts, particularly from his Indian-American colleagues on the board.
"The India Fund will exclusively be used to create and present performing arts, artistic exhibits and/or festivals showcasing the history, traditions, literature, music, dance and/or culture of India," said the Kennedy Centre
president Deborah F. Rutter.
"The intent of the India Fund is to be 'country focused' on India the current nation state of India and the programming is intended to utilise established and/or emerging artists, singers, musicians or other performers
or performance creators who are either citizens of India or whose ancestry is from India," he said.
"Contemporary and experimental art that may appeal to wider audiences is to be included," said Trehan. "While we will be offering consultation to the Kennedy Centre as requested, the programming decision will be theirs."
Noting that Indian arts are at a "very interesting phase", India's Ambassador to the US Navtej Sarna called the Trehans' initiative "the encouragement that we need".
"We have multiple streams, and particularly for a country like the United States, there is no dearth of groups either travelling here or being sent here," he said about the expected collaborations with the centre.
"I believe that in a diverse country as ours, it's important for people to be exposed to these cultures because aside from goodwill it helps to break the walls of prejudice," said Adarsh Trehan.
Alicia Adams, vice president for international programming, who had coordinated and choreographed The Maximum India festival, said the gift will help bring back some of the artists featured in that festival.
Drawing some 400,000 people, the three-week festival was a Kennedy Centre record for a country-specific cultural festival.
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