Diversity and Inclusion in Indian Arts Festivals (Delhi-Mumbai-Kolkata-Bengaluru)

About the event

Cultural festivals are created to showcase, celebrate and represent the diversity of our art, culture, values and people. So the question is, how diverse and inclusive we are while planning and executing these festivals? Are diversity and inclusion just checkboxes for India’s culture sector?

As part of the British Council’s Festival Connections — an annual programme of expertise, knowledge and networking between India and the UK — a series of four sessions were organised across Bengaluru, Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai where the focus of discussion was Diversity and Inclusion in Indian Art Festivals.

In Bengaluru, a panel discussion consisting of Ekta Mittal, Co-Founder, Maraa Collective; Poornima Sukumar, Founder, Aravani Art Project; Siddhant Shah, Founder, Access for ALL; and Suprita Moorthy, Founder, Bengaluru By Design, was held to engage with this critical aspect of festival making.

The session, moderated by Dipti Rao, saw the speakers and the audience discuss and debate inclusive festivals and how they can work together to support the development of diverse and inclusive festivals in the country.

The session in Delhi had Giulia Ambrogi, Curator and Co-Founder, St+art India; Nipun Malhotra, CEO and Founder, Nipman Foundation; and Shantanu Anand, Community Manager, Spoken, cover various aspects of diversity and inclusion in the festival sector in India and how their organisations, through their operations, engage with these aspects. The session, moderated by Virkein Dhar, Founder, Poppy Seed Lab, concluded with the panelists agreeing that diversity and inclusion are critical frameworks for the cultural representation of 21st century India.

To explore this aspect of diversity and inclusivity in contemporary festival making, a session held in Mumbai explored the critical aspects of cultural representation. Anisha Shah, Homemaker, Special Arts Educator and Co-Founder, Access For ALL; Brinda Miller, artist and Committee Member of the Kala Ghoda Association; Nidhi Goyal, Founder and Director, Rising Flame; and Parmesh Shahani, Head, Godrej India Culture Lab, spoke of various aspects of accessibility and inclusivity, ranging from festival production to festival content, festival audience and the composition of the festival team.

In Kolkata, our panelists included Sumona Chakravarty, Founder, Hamdasti and Chitpur Local; Anjum Katyal, Director, Apeejay Kolkata Literary Festival; and Siddhant Shah, Founder, Access for ALL. The session was moderated by Dipti Rao, Head, Research, Art X Company. The speakers discussed the programming of festival content, the audience, and the internal teams where diversity and inclusivity play important roles.

The event was held as part of the British Council’s Festival Connections, in partnership with Arts and Culture Resources India (an Art X Company initiative), annual expertise, knowledge and networking programme between India and the UK.