The centre is a hub of cultural activities which is run by the advisory council appointed by the Board of Trustees. The conferences and seminars held by the centre cover a wide range of varied topics like medicine, religion, civic affairs, science, history, archaeology, ecology, literature and many more. The IIC Experience: A Festival of the Arts’ which is the annual festival of the centre introduced in 2004 showcases the talents in performing and visual arts. It creates themes for the festivals and it runs for a week with the wide spectrum of activities like dance, art exhibitions, the world cinema festival, photography etc. The regular music performances include Hindustani classical and Carnatic music and the dance performances are mostly the Indian classical forms. The centre also provides a platform for concerts of western music. The summer and monsoon festivals which are held for two days each foster the showcasing of budding talents in the field of art, music and dance. The country festivals organized in association with embassies of different countries and cultural missions promotes the cross-cultural aspect through screenings, lectures, performances, cuisines, exhibitions etc. The thematic festivals like : Festival of Water, 2004, Festival of Kabir in Film and Song, 2009, Festival of Rare Instruments, 2012, Utsav – Celebrating Tagore in the 21st Century, Jashn-i-Khusro’-festival of the kalam of Hazrat Amir Khusro, 2010, Azamgarh Festival, 2013 etc. The centre has provided aid to dance forms which required patronage like Mudiyettu, Yakshagana, Moodiyettu and Pavakathakali. The centre also hosts exhibitions of sculptures, paintings, ceramic works, pottery, glass works and others by Indian and International artists. The centre provides membership to individuals as well as institutions and accommodation facilities. It is involved in an array of activities like organizing seminars, lectures, conferences etc. It also arranges programmes of performing arts, exhibitions of photography, paintings, pottery, sculptures and other forms of art to promote the cultural heritage of our country. It also organizes programmes to bring the culture of the sparse communities into the limelight like the Parsees, Nagas, Kodavas etc. It also has membership and hostel accommodation facilities for members as well as non-members.

History

The Japanese emperor Akhito had laid the foundation stone for this cultural centre in the year 1960. It was inaugurated in 1962 and runs on grants from the member universities and the Rockfeller foundation. An American architect Joseph Allen Stein had designed the centre. Many great thinkers and orators have visited this centre in the past like Romano Prodi, Julius Nyerere, Henry Kissinger, H.H. the Dalai Lama, Shimon Peres, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Kofi Annan and many others. Several great wrtiters and scholars who have delivered speeches here include Mahasweta Devi, Sir Martin Gilbert, Amartya Sen, Gloria Steinem, Salman Rushdie, Romilla Thapar, M.S. Swaminathan and other famous personalities. The centre has been instrumental in hosting many prestigious events like the Symposium on Greece-India in 1996, conferences held in India and the USSR in 1988, 'Austrian Millennium', Asian Relations Commemorative Conference in 1987, Seminars on SAARC, International Seminar on “Social Development and the Human Civilization in the 21st Century”, Focus Ghana’ 2012 etc. Every year to commemorate the founder of this centre the C.D. Deshmukh Memorial Lecture is organized where speakers from the different fields of education, culture, science etc are invited to deliver speeches. The centre celebrated its Golden Jubilee and had a star-studded celebration with the presence of emninent personalities like George Mathew, K.C. Sivaramakrishnan, Ashok Khosla, Vikram Seth, Sydney Brenner, Amitabha Kundu, Sunita Narain  and many others. Dr. Indira Chowdhury of ARCH@Srishti was appointed by the centre to record the oral history of the centre through the interviews of people who have been connected with the centre since the early days of its foundation.

Aims and Objectives

• To promote co-operation between different countries with the help of cultural exchange and also exchange of knowledge.
• To spread ideas and knowledge by organizing seminars, conferences, lectures and events.
• To create libraries and maintain them fostering the study of cultures around the world.
• To facilitate research and study courses concerning world cultures.
• To provide services and facilities to both members and no-members of the centre.
• To promote and propagate world cultures with the help of member institutions and organizations.
• To provide accommodation to both members and non-members invited by the centre to the various activities organized.

Collections

The centre takes pride in the book collection which includes various subjects like Sociology & Anthropology, Philosophy, Social Sciences, Education, Law, Economics, Political Science and International Relations, Etiquette & Folklore, Games & Entertainment, Communications & Transportation, History, Technology etc. Among the rare book collection it possesses the India collection, the Himalayan collection, Bilgrami Collection, Walter Sykes George Collection and the Dr C. D. Deshmukh Collection. Apart from this, it has around 50,000 print collection, 2000 media collection, 195 magazines, journals, newspapers etc.

How to Reach

It is located at Max Mueller Marg, New Delhi near the historic Lodi Gardens. It is five minutes away from the Khan Market metro station. This area is well connected by all the means of transport.