We are an educational trust in the village of Kuilapalayam, on the outskirts of the experimental international township of Auroville (close to Pondicherry), South India.

In Sanskrit “Yatra” means pilgrimage or journey, and when we step onto the path of creativity that journey can have incredibly positive life changing consequences.

Yatra Art & Culture Foundation was registered as an educational trust in 2018, but our story began long before. In fact Director Yatra Srinivassan and his wife Adhilakshmi began service to the local community in 2005.

At Yatra ‘creativity’ is a sacred word. It is something to be nurtured, treasured and explored through keen observation, imagination and experimentation; which ultimately leads to transformation.

Creativity enables us to do something different, think out-of-the-box, in our own way, according to our own ideas, thoughts and feelings. Everything, from minute to minute, can be done in a creative way, to create a better, more rewarding and more enjoyable life. The best way to ignite creativity and imagination; the best way to learn; the best way to convey messages with long lasting resonance…is through the arts!

Vision and Mission

Many children from low-income households have few or no opportunities to develop critical life skills, skills which enable them to reach their full potential. It is through the arts that we strive to encourage and empower these bright young stars to pursue their future goals and dreams. This is why our main goals are:

• To help local children to reach their maximum potential through the beneficial development of essential skills: creative thinking, problem solving, self-discipline, self-expression, courage, confidence, communication and social interaction.
• To build community awareness around health, the environmental and social issues through visual and performing arts.
• To foster appreciation and continuation of traditional art forms.

Social Impact

Since the day we began our own journey, Yatra has touched tens of thousands of lives – young and old alike. We have travelled to hundreds of villages and schools disseminating critical messages through visual arts like our Street Theatre Performances, Puppet Shows, Children’s Theatre, Dance and the screening of our in-house short film productions.

We’ve covered dozens of topics such as alcoholism, family violence, women’s empowerment, child abuse, sanitation & hygiene, water management, solid waste management and more.

If you would like to help us continue this valuable work click here.

Work with us: (add link to ‘Work with Us’ page)
Donate: (Add link to donate page)

Yatra Talkies

Yatra Talkies(add link to the YT channel) is our Yatra Media(add link to YAM) YouTube channel where we regularly upload our in-house short films and shorts.

It is a dream of ours to be able to sustain the activities at Yatra Art & Culture Foundation, at least in part, through the monetization of this channel. So an easy way to support us is to click ‘Like & Subscribe’ and to watch our movies in which many of our students participate both in-front of and behind the camera.

Our journey

From very humble beginnings and with a sparse infrastructure Yatra Art & Culture Foundation has grown in leaps and bounds, thanks to the generosity (both in kind and financially) of our many friends and supporters in India and abroad.

Of course none of our achievements would have been possible without the dedication and hard work of the Yatra family and it’s team.

Here are just a few examples of how we have evolved and some of the people who have played key roles in helping us to continue doing what we love…(add before & after photos and a few pictures of key ‘family members’ along the way…eg. Leif)