Bigger crowds at National Centre for Performing Arts signal demand; but funding, infra gaps persist

• NCPA sees record footfall growth but faces funding and infrastructure challenges
• Number of shows rose from 553 to 642, with 1.28 lakh footfalls in 2024-25
• NCPA seeks more support from Indian donors, relies on CSR and art sales for funds.

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At Mumbai’s iconic National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), seats are filling up faster than ever before. More shows and stronger footfalls signal a growing appetite for performing arts.

On the other hand, the institution says funding gaps and infrastructure limitations remain key hurdles to expanding the ecosystem nationwide.

When it comes to demand, the Centre's Symphony Orchestra of India (SOI) founded by Khushroo Suntook along with violin virtuoso Marat Bisengaliev in August 2006, the largest orchestra in Asia, was welcomed with a packed auditorium for the 2025 edition.

"These types of concerts are pretty full," Suntook told Moneycontrol.

More shows, bigger audiences

In 2024-25 across 642 shows, NCPA recorded 1.28lakh footfalls versus 1.08lakh footfalls in the previous year. At 18.8 percent, the centre saw its highest growth in footfalls in the last five years across its five world-class theatres — the Tata, Jamshed Bhabha, Experimental, Little Theatre and the Godrej.

Suntook said that they are taking performing arts to different places in India and abroad.

"Every once a month we take performances to Bandra, to Prithvi theatre. We play all over the city at Mumbai's Bandstand, at Cooperage in Bandra, at Powai."

They are also expanding to newer cities like Bengaluru. In 2024, NCPA partnered with the BLR Hubba (arts and culture festival) to bring its community outreach initiative - NCPA@ThePark to the tech city, an event started in 2022 to celebrate the return of live performances to physical spaces.

On the international front, NCPA has taken performing arts to around 12 countries.

"We have been to Moscow, played in the Kremlin, Switzerland. We have played in Geneva, Zurich, Oman, Abu Dhabi, Georgia," the Chairman said.

He also recalled Zakir Hussain's concert success internationally. "He composed for us a tabla concerto, a double concerto and a triple concerto which was a great success in Switzerland."

Struggles to scale

Suntook expects to grow leaps and bounds artistically in 2026 but capacity restraint and lack of funds are some of the concerns.

"We have a restraint of capacity because we've got five theatres, but we also have five genres. We have theatre, which is occupying a lot, there is Indian music, which is a major segment, there is Western music, along with dance and international music. We also have an academy, where we are teaching 75 students," he added.

Among the five genres, theatre recorded the highest footfalls at 41,227 at NCPA in 2024-25, followed by Western Music at 20,450, International Music at 15,991, Indian Music at 13,804, and dance at 13,484.

While the number of shows are increasing from 553 in 2023-24 to 642 in 2024-25 along with footfalls, Suntook highlighted the gap in funding for performing arts in India which is holding back the growth.

"We (India) have a great love for music. Events are filling out a lot, but they are not sufficiently supported (financially)."

He pointed to funding received by venues like the Vienna State Opera which got 79 million pounds in FY24, National Theatre London received 18.8 million pounds in the same year while Sydney Opera House got 25.7 million pounds.

As for NCPA, Suntook said that they are surviving. "We got Rs 372 crore from the sale of the house of Dr. Jamshed Bhabha, brother of nuclear physicist Homi Jehangir Bhabha. We are still living on that, which is gradually going down."

NCPA was founded in 1969 by Bhabha and J. R. D. Tata, then chairman of the Tata group, with support from the Tata Trusts and a group of leading patrons of the arts. Envisioned as a world-class, multi-venue performing arts complex, the NCPA was created to promote and preserve India’s diverse cultural traditions while also hosting global theatre, music and dance productions. The centre was formally inaugurated in 1970 and has since grown into one of India’s most prestigious cultural institutions.

Suntook recalled what JRD Tata said to Dr Bhabha---"If properly guided, I can see your venture to introduce culture to Bombay and can even become far more important than a steel company."

However, the NCPA Chairman noted that this thought is not being carried forward because people are afraid of entering this space.

"We have got an extensive collection of works of art which I inherited from him (Dr Bhabha). We sell them one by one. A very bad way of surviving," he added.

Rest all of the funding is via Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) money, Suntook said.

"We are a registered charity. One of our biggest donors is Citibank. Our major donor is an American company when it should come from India."

NCPA is reworking its funding strategy. "We are marketing ourselves to say that this is an art form. European countries have a policy of supporting the arts as a useful means of attracting tourists."

But he said that India lacks the infrastructure for Western as well as Indian musical events. "Even countries like Thailand have better infra. We need more space or we will have to drop a genre or two," the Chairman said.