Indian Cultural Center (ICC)

About the India Cultural Center :

As the population of the Indian community in Tampa Bay Metropolitan area has grown over the years, so has the need for our community infrastructure. Apart from providing enduring support for the Indian Community, ICC Tampa has created two community facilities - Magnolia Hall and Lotus Gallery. These facilities serves a place not only to bring the local Indian community together, but to introduce Indian culture and heritage to the local mainstream community as well.

Today, ICC Tampa represents the culmination of these efforts, and operates one of the largest India-focused cultural center in North America. ICC has been fortunate to receive broad support from the community.

Community leaders have provided their advice, time and energy, and their funding to back the project. ICC is determined to create a place we can all come together outside of work and home, and become something we can all be proud of and share. Help us achieve this dream by participating in activities, volunteering, contributing or sharing your thoughts with us.

The Founders:

ICC Tampa was founded by Two Tampa doctors, one from Zambia and one from India, demonstrating through their generous donations of time and money that health, education, arts and cultural diversity are treasures to be cherished and shared.

Born in Ahmedabad, India, Pallavi Patel (“Dr. P” as she is most often called) and the Zambia-born Kiran Patel ( or “Dr. K”) first met while studying medicine in Hyderabad, India. Upon completion of their degrees, they married and began their new lives and medical practices in Zambia. There, the two practiced medicine for five years before leaving for the United States in 1976 on Thanksgiving Day. (They did not know the significance of the day until their relatives told them.) But their story did not end that Thanksgiving Day – in fact, it was just the beginning.