A New Delhi-based arts non-profit, the Foundation for Indian Contemporary Art (FICA) aims to broaden the audience for Indian contemporary art through public engagement. Supported by the Vadehra Art Gallery in 2006, it is primarily involved in education, funding and public art projects. For practitioners and researchers of art, it provides support in the form of awards, grants and fellowships. In 2009, FICA also set up the Reading Room, the first open access art library in New Delhi.

As an organisation, FICA has also focussed on art philanthropy, collaborating with many Indian and international institutions, including the Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation, the Raza Foundation, the Swiss Arts Council and Goldsmiths University, UK, to name a few. Notable programmes are the Amol Vadhera Art Grant, the Ila Dalmia Research FICA Research Grant, the FICA Inlaks Goldsmiths Scholarship, etc. Through a patrons’ programme instituted in 2016, it also brings together groups of donors and collectors to rethink the possibilities of their philanthropy and channel it towards the Foundation’s educational and outreach commitments.

Additionally, the Foundation runs several short and long-term educational projects, such as Learning with Art and For the Love of Art, under which it works closely with children of different age groups, as well as arts educators, to cultivate knowledge about modern and contemporary art in India. The Reading Room, in particular, was aimed at making books, journals, magazines and catalogues on modern and contemporary art more easily accessible. Its collection includes donations from individuals and other arts-based organisations as well. The physical space of the Reading Room, which is in Lado Sarai in New Delhi, is also used to host artist talks, film screenings, workshops and other public programmes, as well as dedicated reading groups.

The FICA office is located at Defence Colony in New Delhi.