Hyderabad: The Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IITH) launches the Centre for Creative Arts (CCA) on January 1, 2026, marking a significant step towards nurturing creativity, cultural awareness and interdisciplinary thinking among its students.

The Centre for Creative Arts builds on IITH’s long-standing emphasis on Liberal and Creative arts as an integral part of technical education. The Creative Arts programme at IITH was formalized in 2014, evolving from Heritage tours for first-year students into a structured academic offering with credited courses across Photography, Fine Arts, Performing Arts and Crafts. Today, nearly 10% of the undergraduate curriculum at IITH is dedicated to Liberal and Creative arts, ensuring that students develop intuitive, empathetic and multidimensional perspectives alongside technical rigour.

With the establishment of CCA in the Department of Liberal Arts, IITH becomes the first IIT to set up a dedicated Centre for Creative Arts, envisioned as a vibrant hub for learning, practice, research and outreach in the arts.

The centre will offer 1–3 credit courses in Creative and Performing arts for undergraduate and postgraduate students, have performing artists of repute as Adjunct faculty and Distinguished Professors, host Artist-in-Residence programmes, and facilitate collaborations that bring artistic perspectives into Engineering, Science and Design education.

The CCA will also actively engage with the wider community through outreach programmes for school students and Art teachers, helping cultivate appreciation for diverse art forms from an early age. In addition, the centre will promote research in the Arts, encouraging doctoral studies where visiting artists may serve as co-supervisors, thereby bridging practice-based knowledge with academic inquiry. Collaborations with organizations such as SPIC MACAY will further enrich the cultural landscape of the campus.

While launching the centre, Prof BS Murty, Director, IIT Hyderabad, said: “The Centre for Creative Arts reflects the belief of IITH that creativity, culture and technology must grow together. By integrating creative arts into our academic fabric, we aim to nurture empathetic, imaginative and socially conscious technologists who can innovate for humanity. In addition, creative arts activate right brain activity, encouraging intuitive thinking, which is essential for innovations. As the motto of IITH being “Inventing and Innovating in Technology for Humanity,” the CCA fits perfectly into the philosophy of IITH.”

Dr. Aalok Khandekar, Head, Department of Liberal Arts, said: “The establishment of the Centre for Creative Arts will enable us to further build the creative arts program that has been part of our department since its inception. We are excited to host leading artists through the CCA, creating exciting possibilities for new course offerings and research collaborations.”

Through CCA, IITH seeks to create an ecosystem where art and technology intersect, inspiring students to approach innovation with sensitivity, imagination and a deeper understanding of society,he added.