For Immediate Release · Embargoed until announcement date
Hindu University of America Announces the Chandrika & Ranjan Tandon Center for the Sacred Arts
A $7.5 million lead gift establishes the first purpose-built academic home for Hindu sacred and Indian classical performing arts on the East Coast.
GROVELAND, FL — The Hindu University of America (HUA) today announced a transformational $7.5 million lead gift from Chandrika Krishnamurthy Tandon and Ranjan Tandon to establish The Chandrika & Ranjan Tandon Center for the Sacred Arts at its Pine Lake Retreat campus. The Center will be the first academic facility on the East Coast — and, to the university's knowledge, in the United States — dedicated to Hindu sacred music, Indian classical performance, and the scholarly study of dharmic sound traditions.
The gift, structured as $1.5 million annually over five years, will fund a 200-seat acoustically-tuned recital hall, a three-classroom teaching wing, a professional recording studio with an extension for TV/radio and podcast production, and the endowed Tandon Distinguished Chair in Hindu Performing Arts. A second phase, anticipated in Year 5, will add a 600-seat outdoor amphitheater overlooking Pine Lake and an immersive spatial-audio sacred-sound installation.
"Music is the bridge between the soul and the infinite. We are honored to help build a home where that bridge can be taught, recorded, and shared with the world."
The Center will anchor new BA and MA degree tracks in Sacred Performing Arts beginning fall 2026, alongside an extracurricular conservatory in drama, dance, and vocal music for community students. Its programming model integrates academic instruction, ticketed concerts, artist residencies, an annual Nada Festival, and a streaming-first recording label, creating the diversified earned-revenue base that has long been missing from Hindu performing-arts institutions in North America.
Construction begins in early 2026, with the recording studio and classroom wing opening within the first year. The recital hall opens in Year 2; the media wing and Tandon Distinguished Chair recruitment follow in Year 3.
"[Placeholder — quote from the HUA President will appear here once approved by the office.]"
About the Hindu University of America: The Hindu University of America (HUA) is the only accredited Hindu university in the United States, offering degree programs in Hindu studies, Sanskrit, yoga, and dharmic philosophy from its 200-acre Pine Lake Retreat campus in Groveland, Florida. HUA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit institution. Learn more at hua.edu.
Media contact: HUA Office of Communications · press@hua.edu · +1 (407) 633-1100