A Virginia festival is set to launch an oral history project aimed at preserving the cultural heritage and personal stories of Indian Americans in the Commonwealth.
This weekend, the inaugural Threads & Bridges Festival will kick off a long-term oral history project dedicated to documenting the experiences, traditions, and cultural legacy of Indian Americans across Virginia. Organized by the Rith Initiative, the festival will take place on August 15 and 16 at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture in Richmond.
The Threads & Bridges Oral History Project aims to preserve the personal stories of Indian American families for future generations. Unlike traditional historical accounts, this initiative focuses on individual experiences, collecting narratives about migration, family traditions, faith, and everyday life.
“We didn’t know who the first Indian family in Virginia was, or when they came, or why they stayed,” said Ruchi Gupta, founder and creative director of the Rith Initiative. “That question sent me down a rabbit hole that became Threads & Bridges, an internal gaze through a cultural lens, asking what culture we carried and what culture we’re becoming.”
The project began with ten pilot interviews conducted by Gupta and co-producer Rupa Ratnam Singh. These interviews will serve as the foundation for an exhibition and a broader archive that organizers plan to expand in the coming years.
“Every family carries stories that risk disappearing with each generation,” said Prabir Mehta, a co-organizer of the festival. “Threads & Bridges exists to preserve those memories while creating new connections between generations, cultures, and communities here in our own backyard.”
Singh emphasized that cultural identity is often transmitted through ordinary experiences rather than formal instruction. “Not everything we carry is a conscious choice. Some parts of culture are inherited quietly, through the meals we eat, the languages we hear, the way we celebrate and grieve,” she explained. “These invisible threads are passed down without anyone ever saying, ‘This is your culture.’ Only later do we recognize what we’ve been carrying all along.”
The interactive exhibition at the festival will feature 15 stations designed around the metaphor of a loom. This concept symbolizes how traditions brought from India are woven together with experiences created in the United States.
In addition to the oral history project, the two-day festival will showcase classical dance performances, a textile fashion show, live music by Mehta and students from the Gandharva School of Music, an artisan market, henna art, children’s activities, and a variety of food options.
A highlight of the festival will be a panel discussion titled “Being Indian-American: Its Responsibilities and Possibilities,” scheduled for August 16 from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Dr. Niraj Verma, a professor and former dean of Virginia Commonwealth University’s L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, will moderate the discussion. Panelists will include Virginia Lt. Gov. Ghazala Hashmi, Richmond Mayor Danny Avula, architect Neil Bhatt, and Bhumika Tharoor of The Atlantic.
This discussion will explore how Indian Americans have preserved or lost elements of their culture, their contributions to their communities, their role in bridging ancestral and adopted cultures, and the future of diaspora communities.
The festival will run from noon to 4 p.m. on both August 15 and 16. Organizers have stated that the ten stories featured at the launch represent the beginning of an ongoing public archive rather than a one-time project.
The Rith Initiative, a Virginia-based nonprofit, aims to explore and celebrate Indian wisdom and culture through arts, stories, and community engagement. The organization was founded on the belief that history is most powerfully preserved through the people who experienced it, making this oral history project a vital endeavor for the Indian American community in Virginia.
According to The American Bazaar, the Threads & Bridges Festival promises to be a significant event for cultural preservation and community connection.