In Focus: Festivals from India

23 Sep In Focus: Festivals from India

In 2020, COVID-19 ravaged through the world. One of the hardest hit ecosystems during the pandemic was the festivals sector. Months long lockdowns and social distancing measures imposed across the country resulted in lost jobs, lost experiences, and lost connections. Reviving the festivals sector and driving growth in the arts and cultural sector is the British Council and Art X Company’s new initiative- Festivals From India. A digital hub of credible information and resources for festival lovers, festival goers, and festival organisers, Festivals from India aims to promote patronage and drive growth in the festival sector across India. To learn more about this initiative, we spoke to Rashmi Dhanwani, the founder and CEO of the Art X Company, and Jonathan Kennedy, Director of Arts, British Council.

What prompted the collaboration between Art X Company and the British Council? 

Rashmi: The Festivals from India portal is primarily led by the Art X Company, a strategic consultancy operating at the intersection of arts and access, that offers consulting, research, curation, audience development and management services to the cultural sector in India. Art X has over six years of experience advocating for and building a space and context for sector development and research in India, particularly in the festivals space where we have organised over 25 events in three years as part of the British Council-Arts & Culture Resources India collaboration, Festival Connections.

ArtBramha Consulting LLP is formed as a consortium of key partners and directors in Art X Company and NetBramha LLP. ArtBramha is involved in delivering research, content and web development services to festivals and cultural organisations in India and South Asia. As part of its service offering, ArtBramha will provide consulting for project management, content services, research services and design and development of web platforms, UX/UI and products for the arts and culture sector in the region. ArtBramha is a sister concern of the Art X Company. 

British Council put out a tender in 2020 for the development of this website, ArtBramha Consulting LLP bid for it and was awarded the contract.

What does each collaborator bring to the table?

Rashmi: British Council has provided the development funding for the platform. ArtBramha LLP/ Art X Company has developed the platform and will run it from the time of its launch in April 2022.

How was Festivals from India conceived? 

Jonathan: Arts Festivals uniquely bring together artists and audiences through the informality of venues; whether they are fields, mountain sides, train stations, city squares, sports stadiums or in multiple spaces concurrently across metros in theatres, museums, and galleries. Festivals can ‘take over’ a city, create a sense of place, community and dynamism through performance and participation.

Arts and culture festivals enrich our lives the world over, now this will be especially so in India and the UK with Festivals From India.

The British Council has made possible the Festivals from India platform with ArtBramha in India and the Audience Agency in the UK to develop new audiences and showcase the huge variety of arts and culture festivals here; develop business skills of festival managers with UK and Indian experts; and grow international partnerships and networks with the UK and beyond. 

Backed by research this new platform is a repository of guidance for families wanting to find a festival and for festival organisers wanting to make their event more accessible or find a job.

What is the vision for the project?

Rashmi: Festivals From India is a first of its kind platform that showcases the best of India’s arts and cultural festivals across multiple genres. Our mission is to be a comprehensive guide to all things festivals for enthusiasts looking to discover festivals, and the preferred platform for festival organisers seeking to reach new audiences. 

Jonathan: We hope Festivals From India will be a gateway to destinations to explore India and to grow even more artistic collaborations with the UK and internationally. It will build trust through cultural relations and strengthen the creative economy through partnerships that really matter – between artists, festivals, and audiences. The box office is open, now you are most welcome to explore, experience and engage.

How do you foresee this project growing?

Rashmi: By more festivals listing on this platform, more festival audiences visiting festivals in the upcoming and future culture seasons and more communities of festival lovers being built, ultimately leading to the growth of cultural tourism and the festival economy.

How does the birth of a project like FFI translate into growth and opportunities in the arts and cultural sector in India?

Rashmi: When information is easily transmitted and accessed, it encourages discovery, empathy, understanding and consumption. Eventually people find value in the information and experiences being presented enough for a whole range of stakeholders to catalyse growth – governments, media, brands, artists, venues, creative professionals and audiences. As an example, this year the Government has issued 300 tenders for events in India amounting to INR 12,000 crores. A big part of that will be funneled into festival building, for the latter’s scope to generate tourism, catalyse related businesses, ability to attract large audiences and position India’s soft power for economic growth.

Jonathan: In the UK, the eleven Edinburgh Festivals, the Manchester International Festival and London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT) to name just three, reflect the ambition of artists, cities, and audiences to open-up, reach out and welcome in the world through local, national, and international cultural tourism.

India’s iconic festivals such as the Jaipur Literature Festival, Serendipity Arts Festival and the Kochi Muziris Biennale are beacons for eloquent artistic exchange and tens of thousands of young engaged audiences who flock to them readily open for new experience of international arts. 

Specialist and multi-arts festivals express the breadth and depth of creativity in India and the UK. Festivals From India will strengthen the network with the UK and beyond. From traditional music at Jodhpur RIFF to contemporary culture at NH7 Weekender all is possible if you know where to look – Festivals from India.

How do you ensure access to and coverage of lesser known festivals and celebrations from rural and economically underserved parts of the country?

Rashmi: We are constantly in touch with festival managers and producers from across the country and we are helping them fill out the form on our website. We are also in talks with various state and central tourism and culture departments and ministries that have access to many of these festivals. As the events sector comes back to life after a two-year pandemic induced hiatus, we are aiming to get more revived festivals on the platform.

How does a project like FFI fit into the British Council’s broader role of cultural diplomacy?

Jonathan: In 2019 the British Council launched the South Asia Festivals Academy in Guwahati. The South Asia festivals Academy is now partnered and accredited by Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland. You’ll see on the platform the India / UK international partnerships made possible by the British Council showcases our work in cultural diplomacy through creative collaborations.

The UK has spearheaded a community of festivals who seek to minimise the carbon footprint, reduce waste, and encourage artists and audiences to eat, drink, travel and stay mindful of the impact they have on the environment. From glamping at Glastonbury Festivals in Somerset to travelling by the women drivers of Pink City Rickshaw Company in Jaipur.  Many Festivals have led the way for Generation X and Millennials to be conscious consumers of culture festivals and arts.

As India marks 75 years of Independence, we hope the Festivals from India platform currently showcasing over 200 arts festivals will be home for mutual collaboration between festivals in India and the UK, a destination for cultural tourists to plan, and a centre of skills development for emerging festival managers learning alongside the festival collaborations in the British Council’s India/UK Together Season of Culture.

Written by Senjuti

About Jonathan Kennedy: Jonathan joined the British Council in February 2019. As the Director Arts India for the British Council, Jonathan is responsible for leading the international arts and culture strategy, managing stakeholder relationships across government and the creative industries; and conceptualising major programmes to promote and strengthen India-UK cultural relations through collaboration, connections and creative partnerships. 

About Rashmi Dhanwani: Rashmi Dhanwani leads the Art X Company, a strategic consultancy for the cultural sector focused on strategy, audience development and sector research. Prior to founding Art X, Rashmi has worked with NCPA Mumbai, Breakthrough in Delhi, the newspaper Daily News and Analysis (DNA); Kalaghoda Arts Festival, and The Goa Project. She holds a Masters in Cultural and Creative Industries from King’s College London. She has also been a recipient of the ARThink South Asia Fellowship (2011-12), a participant fellow at ‘The Academy—a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School and the Weill Music Institute’, a scholarship grantee of the JN Tata Trust and Charles Wallace India Trust, and a 2017 Global Fellow of the International Society for Performing Arts (ISPA), New York. Rashmi has also founded Arts Culture Resources India, a network and platform for cultural professionals in India and South Asia.