The Sikh Foundation welcomes you to a 2018 filled with the spirit of “Chardi Kalan”.
We wish you joy and happiness in this New Year. As with every year, we know that there will also be challenging times ahead. We wish for you Chardi Kalan, the Sikh spirit, which inspires us to strive for a positive outlook at all times and show equanimity in the face of both good fortune and adversity.
This elegant late 19th century artwork we have chosen here, graces the cover of our book “Sikh Art from the Kapany Collection”. The visual representation of a royal entourage climbing up the ramparts of a fort is to us symbolic of the spirit of Chardi Kalan, which has motivated generations of Sikhs.
The Sikh Foundation celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2017. In this Golden Jubilee year we organized a two day conference “Advancing Sikhs through Education” at Stanford University with thirty speakers from the field of arts, academics, health care, public service, engineering and entrepreneurship.
Our Golden Gala “The Pride & Promise” celebrated the Sikh art exhibit “Saints and Kings- Arts, culture and legacy of the Sikhs” at the acclaimed Asian Art Museum San Francisco. The Hon. Harjit Singh Sajjan was the keynote speaker with guests arriving from all over the world including a group of twenty students from universities across California.
During the Gala, the stellar contributions of Arpana Caur, Dr. Anarkali Kaur Honaryar, Dr. Nikky Guninder Kaur Singh, Susan Stronge & Valarie Kaur, were recognized with “Nirbhau Awards”.
We also launched our book “Sikh Art from the Kapany Collection” co-published with the Smithsonian Institution. The book has helped to increase awareness of the rich artistic heritage of the Sikhs amongst leading opinion makers & community leaders across America, Canada and India.
Earlier in the year, Dr. N.S Kapany’s personal Sikh book collection was gifted to the McHenry Library at UC Santa Cruz along with the dedication of a reading room in honor of Sardar Sundar Singh Kapany.
As we look towards the next 50 years in service to our community, we reflect how Sikh Studies will evolve to take on the challenges of the future? How will the arts appeal to future generations?
These are some of the questions we think about as we continue in our mission to promote, preserve and advance the artistic and academic study of Sikhism at the highest institutions of education and art by inspiring, educating and engaging communities around the world.
We welcome your suggestions and thoughts, which can help us, serve our communities better.
The Sikh Foundation Team