ABOUT US

SiliconAndhra is a non-profit organization with goals to maintain and perpetuate the Telugu Samskruti (Culture), Sahityam (Literature) and Sampradayam (Tradition) among the Telugu speaking people of USA. SiliconAndhra is committed to raise the awareness of the Telugu culture among the denizens of US and integrate it seamlessly with the mainstream US culture by organizing unique cultural and literary events that depict the rich cultural heritage traditions and arts of Andhra Pradesh. SiliconAndhra represents the aspirations of about 30,000 strong Telugu speaking people in the Silicon Valley, California.

Telugu language has a rich history of about 2500 years and its culture; traditions and literature have been dated back to early 700 BC. Art, music, dance, language, poetry, traditions, family values are the heritage of Andhra Pradesh.  

SiliconAndhra is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, non-political, non-religious, cultural and community organization based in the Silicon Valley (Bay Area), California.

MISSION

“TO PERPETUATE TELUGU CULTURE, LITERATURE, TRADITIONS AND VALUES AND INTEGRATE THEM INTO MODERN LIFE”.

 

The purpose of the organization is to serve the community through cultural and charity work. The organization strives to promote, preserve and perpetuate the unique Telugu culture of the Andhra Pradesh region of India and strives to instill the value system in the community.

One of the key objectives of SiliconAndhra is to educate the kids born and raised in US and the youth migrated to US, about the rich cultural heritage of Andhra Pradesh, India. Art, music, dance, language, poetry, traditions, family values are the heritage of Andhra Pradesh.  

 

Events

Apart from Projects, SiliconAndhra conducts five major events in each calendar year, timed to correspond to important dates in the Indian calendar. They are Manabadi Samskrutikotsavam (Cultural Program by students of Manabadi in January), UgadiUtsavam (Telugu NewYear in March / April), Annamacharya Jayanthi Utsavam (Birth Anniversary Cleberations of composer Sri Annamacharya in May), SiliconAndhra Varshikotsavam (SiliconAndhra Anniversary Celebrations in August), Andhra Samskrutikotsavam (Andhra Cultural Festival in October), International Kuchipudi Convention (in December of every other year).

SiliconAndhra also promotes community participation in Charity work. In the past year SiliconAndhra organized charity events to help Tsunami victims in India, creek clean-up activities in Bay Area, Voluntary work at Community Food Banks, etc.

ACHIEVEMENTS

For the past four years, SiliconAndhra has scaled up its events and established several Guinness Records.

A Guinness record was established for the first time for largest Kuchipudi dance consisting of 332 performers at Cupertino, CA in 2008. Several artists from India were invited and students of the dance form from world over attended the convention.

In 2010, the second international convention was held in Andhra Pradesh. The convention concluded with a yet another world record performance by 2800 dancers performing for the thillana. The President of India, Smt. PratibhaPatil was the chief guest to this event. This event was covered live by several frontline Telugu channels from electronic media and viewed by several lakhs of viewers both in India and all across America.

SiliconAndhra created a Guinness World record with more than 100,000 singers singing Annamaacharya’sKritis simultaneously at Hyderabad in 2009. This event was viewed by several lakhs of viewers live and by many more viewers through the coverage of Telugu electronic media.

In 2009, another Guinness World record was established, when musicians and artists performed for over 115 hours at Vijayawada, non-stop to celebrate Annamaacharya’s birth anniversary. The overall viewership of this event ran into several lakhs.

In 2011, SiliconAndhra came out with its first publication named ‘BatukammaSatakam’ comprising 108 poems on a deity widely worshipped by Telugu people.

The first ‘AntarjateeyaMangalaVadyaSammelanam’ was conducted in Hyderabad with participants drawn from several countries.

In 2011, the first ITIC (International Telugu Internet Conference) was held in Bay Area, California. The first batch of 'Manabadi' students graduated and they were provided certificates by Sri. Potti Sriramulu Telugu University.

In 2012, second ITIC was held in Visakhapatnam. Third International Kuchipudi Convention is planned to be held in Hyderabad in December 2012.