The largest inter-disciplinary festival of the arts in South Asia is scheduled from the 15th to the 23rd of December 2023 in Panaji, Goa
April, Panaji: Serendipity Arts Festival, which is scheduled to host its 6th physical edition from the 15th to the 23rd of December 2023, in Panaji, Goa, has today announced its lineup of curators for the upcoming edition. The festival is getting ready to celebrate the arts of the South Asian region with a diverse line-up of interdisciplinary projects and initiatives conceptualised by a panel of distinguished curators spanning across the performing, visual, culinary arts, and craft. We are happy to be coming back in partnership with the City of Panjim, and the Entertainment Society of Goa bringing back focus to the relationship between culture and the city.
Sandeep Kumar Sangaru and Anjana Somany will be curating the section on Craft and bring forth varied crafts practices that blend traditional and contemporary practice. Quasar Thakore Padamsee who curated last year’s theatre section of the festival is back to helm the Theatre segment of the festival that will showcase an eclectic selection of plays. Food is closely linked with festivities and is an indispensable element of the festival, and for this edition, Chef Thomas Zacharias and The Locavore Team, will curate the important Culinary quotient of Serendipity Arts Festival through a gastronomical journey that ties people and cultures. Bickram Ghosh, who has curated the previous edition of the festival, along with Ricky Kej will curate the Music section with a wide range of concerts covering diverse genres and addressing various social-cultural ideas and topics. Geeta Chandran and Mayuri Upadhya will put together classical, experimental and contemporary dance performances and workshops. Visual Arts curators for this edition will be Veeranganakumari Solanki and Vidya Shivdas.
Spread across multiple venues in Panjim and around Goa, the festival will continue to promote innovation and experimentation within the arts, adhering to its core values of sustainability, inclusivity, and accessibility. The festival will continue to be a celebration of community with region -specific projects, as well as workshops for people with special needs, as well as a dedicated segment with children’s programs.
Speaking about the Festival, its role in facilitating cultural collaborations and welcoming the curators Mr. Sunil Kant Munjal, Founder & Patron, Serendipity Arts and Founder of THE BRIJ, said, “South Asia’s unparalleled cultural richness has been shaped by multiple influences over the centuries. While being an amalgam of many, our arts & culture still have their own unique richness. We are lining up top-notch curators and collaborators for the upcoming Serendipity Arts Festival (SAF) in Goa this December as part of our journey to capture South Asia’s richness and diversity, and blend these with the best global art practices. While looking at multiple art forms we also investigate and present the inter-disciplinarity of the many art forms- broadly through visual, performing, culinary and performance arts.” Adding further Mr. Munjal said, “This festival has emerged as a seamless platform that promotes artistic expressions and supports the creative economy of the entire region through collaboration, experimentation, innovation, grants, arts residencies, and representation. The platform is unique because of the sheer size and quality of the opportunity it presents. SAF allows artists and audiences to engage through the arts, it fosters multiple cultural exchanges, it allows artistic experiences to develop, it brings the world to India, and most certainly presents India to the world.’’
The 6th physical edition of the festival will also feature a set of special curators including Zubin Balaporia (Music), Vikram Iyanger (Dance), Elizabeth Yorke & Anusha Murthy with Edible Issues, who be the special curators for culinary arts. while Bhagyashree Patwardhan will return to curate a project around local Goan design practices. There might be additions to the list of special curators, closer to the festival.
Ms. Smriti Rajgarhia, Director, Serendipity Arts Foundation and Festival, said, “We are happy to announce our new line-up of curators for the Serendipity Arts Festival 2023, who will help us in re-imagining the arts and will be creating an array of projects that are engaging, inclusive and immersive, prompting the public to think beyond the white cube and proscenium spaces”.
The festival is an amalgamation of creative collaborations with cultural institutions and cultural departments of foreign embassies. In addition to Institut Français (India), Pro Helvetia, and the British Council as project partners, the festival is expecting to showcase more projects brought in collaboration with other cultural institutions.
In its 6th edition, the Serendipity Arts Festival will explore innovation and the experimentation within the arts and facilitate global creative collaborations to increase public engagement with the arts and bring the world to Goa in a 9-day long celebration of the arts and myriad creative expressions of the region, making art and culture a part of everyday conversations.
