Art the Great Equalizer

By Sanjiv Goyal Featuring Ruma Acharya

In this article you will learn about:

• The Tagore Center Foundation
• Rabindranath Tagore
• Giving Back
• Abstract Painting
• Living From the Heart

Art the Great Equalizer

A Cultural Education Hub

Ruma Acharya and her husband started the Tagore Center Foundation in 2015. The mission of the nonprofit is to build a cultural touchstone on a 14-acre plot in Houston Texas. The arts and education center, which is still under construction, carries the spirit of its namesake, Nobel Prize-winning poet Rabindranath Tagore.

Tagore was a Bengali poet, writer, composer, philosopher, and painter of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. A household name in India, his poetry and other works are still largely unknown in other countries.

Ruma and her husband moved to Houston over twenty years ago. They are both philanthropists and avid supporters of the arts. Ruma found Houston a vibrant and diverse home. To her delight, the city’s citizens were enthusiastic about her vision of bringing Tagore’s unifying philosophy and teachings to life through building a cultural arts center.

Speaking of Tagore Ruma notes, “ His vision was above our understanding and he thought about everyone. He came from a wealthy family but he understood less privileged people. He was above religion, race, and color.” For Ruma Houston was the perfect place to plant the seed for Tagor’s unifying teachings.

This universalism is what the center represents to her. Though Tagore is very well-known in India, Acharya questions how much his philosophy is put into practice. She was curious how Americans would receive his teachings and philosophy. The enthusiasm she was met with fueled her passion to see the project through.

The arts center, once complete, hopes to provide a platform for underprivileged children and aspiring artists to be recognized on a larger scale. Recognizing the power of art and education, Acharya is creating a space for the benefit of generations to come.

An Artist at Heart

From a young age, Ruma always loved to paint. Multi-talented and a life-long learner she learned to play piano later in life. Her son…