Goa's Serendipity Arts Festival Is Back After Two Years

Serendipity Arts Foundation, a not-for-profit, conceptualised with a vision to energise arts production, awareness, and practice across South Asia, announced the line-up of curators for the fifth edition of its flagship event, Serendipity Arts Festival 2022, scheduled from the 15th to the 23rd of December 2022, in Panaji, Goa.

After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the festival is back with a line-up of immersive and interdisciplinary programmes conceptualised by a panel of distinguished curators spanning across the performing, visual , culinary arts and crafts. Spread across ten venues with the Old GMC Palace at its heart, the festival will continue to uphold its fundamental values of sustainability, inclusivity, and accessibility with a marketplace focussing on homegrown, sustainable products and produce workshops and for those with special needs, children’s programmes.

Curating the section on Craft, Pramod Kumar KG will highlight the world of specialist books on the art history of India through a uniquely immersive exhibition, and Anjana Somany will enliven the world of craft and its rich traditions of materiality through space-making. Quasar Thakore Padamsee will helm the Theatre segment of the festival that will showcase an eclectic selection of plays; Prahlad Sukhtankar will curate the important Culinary quotient of Serendipity Arts Festival through community meals and a series of workshops decoding food as we know it.

Bickram Ghosh and Ehsaan Noorani will curate Music with a wide range of live concerts covering a multi-genre range of classical, folk, indie pop, and rock. Geeta Chandran and Mayuri Upadhya will put together classical, experimental and contemporary dance performances and workshops this year.

Visual Arts curators Sudarshan Shetty and Veerangana Solanki will showcase filmmakers to operate and explore the post-pandemic transition from the virtual to the physical.

Speaking about the festival and its importance for culture and society, Sunil Kant Munjal, Founder Patron, Serendipity Arts Foundation, said, “In our attempt to grow the economy over the last many decades, the enormity and significance of India’s cultural heritage and its arts often gets missed. As a result, we have allowed the arts to go into decline. This festival showcases the many dimensions through which the arts and culture touch and enrich our lives. Through the many diverse programmes and events we hope to get more and more people interested and engaged, in the process enhancing one of the most fascinating aspects of India’s true soft power.”

“We have announced our curators for the Serendipity Arts Festival 2022 and we are aiming to host an inclusive festival that challenges the public at large to push beyond accepted notions and conventions in arts and culture," said Smriti Rajgarhia, Director, Serendipity Arts Foundation.

In addition to the core programming, many Special Projects have been lined up, including a collaborative exhibition between four galleries; a special archival exhibition by Dr. Jyotindra Jain; an international collaboration between Rahaab Allana & Pascal Beausse (CNAP, France); an exhibition on NFTs; and film screenings curated by Harkat Studios. The Festival aims to give much-deserved exposure, a collaborative platform to produce a sustainable environment for contemporary arts and crafts and to highlight the shared cultural heritage of South Asia by building a strong alumni network of artists across the globe.

In its fifth year, the Serendipity Arts Festival will explore ways to enhance public engagement with the arts and boost the soft power of the nation by making art and culture a part of everyday conversations. Owing to the festival’s collaborative and liberal approach, it has found support from Institut Français (India), Pro Helvetia, and the British Council as project partners. The Festival aims to preserve the cultural mosaic, replete with diversity, that has shaped South Asia’s many identities over the decades.