India’s first multi disciplinary arts event, the Serendipity Arts Festival 2018 will ignite Goa from the 15-22 December, with over 90 dynamic projects highlighting India’s rich traditions of music, dance and theatre, alongside culinary arts, craft, and visual arts exhibitions.  

Serendipity Arts Festival will take place across 10 venues, energising Goa and transforming Panaji into a vibrant cultural space with multiple exhibitions, performances and immersive arts experiences.

The Serendipity Arts Festival is committed to creating tangible change across the country’s cultural spectrum by engaging the public and increasing awareness of how art can impact society, whilst generating interest in public art projects across India.

In its previous two editions, the event attracted more than 400,000 visitors, and activated 1300 artists creating significant impact and contributing to the cultural regeneration of Panaji. This year’s programming will include 1500 artists and continues to honour the culture and the arts of the Festival’s host city, with special events to celebrate the 175th anniversary of Panaji redefining heritage sites and architectural icons through creative and community focused projects.

An initiative of the Serendipity Arts Foundation, founded in 2016 by Mr Sunil Kant Munjal, the Festival’s third edition is focused on fostering cultural development, supporting emerging artists across South Asia and is unique as the only arts event in the country that unites the creative disciplines.

The first two editions of the event transformed Goa and received an extremely positive reception from the public, redefining perceptions of the arts whilst also energising arts production, awareness and practice across the country.

Showcasing performative, visual, and culinary practices, this year’s Festival has been designed to create a balance between artistic rigour and accessibility. Projects will unite artforms from different parts of the country, diluting regional divisions and encouraging cross-cultural exchange.

Highlights of this year’s event include, theatre performances designed for children, large scale public installations in the visual arts and photography, a variety outdoor and evening music performances, culinary workshops and tastings, as well as a range of specially commissioned projects across disciplines which will be exclusive to Serendipity Arts Festival 2018.

Projects will be further activated by diverse collateral programming including panel discussions, children’s programmes, and workshops for the differently abled. These initiatives are an integral part of the Foundation’s key mission of making the arts accessible, and developing arts audiences both in numbers and in diversity.

Unique activations in the core disciplines of Craft, Culinary Arts, Music, Photography, Visual Arts, Dance and Theatre, intend to invigorate dissipating and marginalised traditional artforms, whilst the more contemporary projects will address significant social issues. This year’s event will also have increased international participation aimed at furthering global dialogues with Indian culture.

About this year’s editionMs. Smriti Rajgarhia, Director, Serendipity Arts Festival said, “We are incredibly excited about this year’s edition of the Festival which has something for everyone and which will offer audiences varied platforms to engage with the arts. There’s a strong focus on interdisciplinary practice and dialogue between disciplines. Our vision is to create a strong foundation for arts development across the disciplines and we hope that the rich diversity of events this will inspire diverse audiences from across the country to visit Goa this December.”

The 90 projects this year will be accompanied by a series of Special Projects including The Young Subcontinent curated by Riyas Komu, St+art curated by  Hanif Qureishi, Out of Turn curated by Asia Art Archive and Meenakshi Thirukode and a Film Programme by Sabeena Gadihoke.

“Our vision is that the Serendipity Arts Festival becomes a catalyst for change — for artists, the community, the public and the country, impacting daily life and ultimately changing the way we interact and respond to creativity and the arts across demographics. The Festival is a platform for underrepresented and emerging artists, and also presents the curatorial vision of some of our country's most esteemed cultural practitioners. We are honoured to present artists, artisans, indigenous and folk art forms, performers and other creative practitioners on one stage.”  Mr Sunil Kant Munjal, Founder of The Serendipity Arts Foundation.

This year’s Festival curators include:

Photography: Rahaab Allana and Ravi Agarwal

Visual Arts: Ranjit Hoskote and Subodh Gupta

Culinary Arts: Rahul Akerkar and Odette Mascarenhas

Dance: Leela Samson and Ranjana Dave

Theatre: Atul Kumar and Arundhati Nag

Music: Aneesh Pradhan and Sneha Khanwalkar

Craft: Annapurna Garimella and Rashmi Varma