By James Feichtner
It’s no secret that Carmel is a melting pot of many different cultures, but what some may not know is that Carmel is home to a center for Russian cultural propagation, the Russian-American Cultural Center; a group that’s had a presence here since 2009.
RACC co-founder and director of strategic planning Natalia Rekhter explained that the idea for the center began with just a few Russian families in Indianapolis who gathered to share in their parallel heritage. Their original focus was to keep their heritage strong within their growing families.
“The people started the school to allow kids to continue speaking Russian, and they were immigrants,” Rekhter said in her strong Russian accent. “They were living in an apartment complex in Indianapolis and they were meeting around a large tree, maybe a few families, four, five or six.”
As they grew in popularity they began to meet at the Jewish Community Center in Indianapolis. By 2009 they had grown so much that they needed a bigger building. Fortunately, University High School of Carmel offered the group space in their building.
“The people of [UHS] graciously opened the door to us, and now we are there on Sundays,” Rekhter said. “It has grown, as people were more interested. At first it was mostly for immigrant families and the kids of immigrant families so they can continue speaking Russian and continue their appreciation for the culture, history and literature, in addition to getting appreciation for American culture. It’s very easy to lose appreciation for your culture, and it’s such an asset so we don’t want them to lose it.”
The RACC continued to grow as adults without Russian backgrounds became interested, mostly those who married into families with Russian heritages.
“All of the sudden we started receiving some interest in people who wanted [classes]for adults, who wanted to study Russian,” Rekhter said. “And most of it started with blended families. We didn’t know what to do. But eventually we got a teacher and we got a program and now we have, believe it or not, four or five classes for teaching Russian to English [speakers]. We have beginning, advanced beginning, intermediate, etc. We also just started Hebrew [classes]and we are hoping to incorporate Ukrainian, and I’m excited about it.”
Rekhter explained that their new location has been quite a success.
“Carmel is great. I live in Carmel,” she said. “Many of the kids live in Carmel, but many of the kids also live in Fishers and Indianapolis, and it’s maybe a commute for them but I don’t think they mind.”
RACC offers a variety of programs for adults and children including Russian language and culture (for heritage speakers), Russian as a second language, art, music, chess, math and more. There is even a Russian language placement course for college credits.
To learn more about the RACC, visit www.indydeti.com or call 399-4685.
