Ms. Smriti Rajgarhia
Director, Serendipity Arts Foundation & Festival
Tell us how a festival like this was started and how the idea came about
Serendipity was set up to change the public’s perception about arts and create accessibility for the arts. After the foundation was established, Mr. Munjal mentioned that we needed to do something that would bring about change in the current arts ecosystem. We were keen to understand how we could support a diverse and inter-connected arts ecosystem, that transcended disciplinary boundaries to present a new experience for audiences. Given the scale of the region, we needed to make an impact through the arts and for the arts. So the idea of the festival came about. Finally, after many brainstorming sessions and research in 2015, the structure of the festival was born. This structure was unique as it was based on the idea of collaboration, it supported a multiplicity of diverse voices and was meant to be representative of the wider region, yet cognizant of traditions and experiments in national and international spaces, spreading its net across transgenerational, trans-historical and interdisciplinary topographies. With a very young and passionate team, we started the journey to bring this unique festival that celebrated the arts and allowed everyone to enjoy the rich cultural diversity of the region to life. Plus, our intent with the Festival is also to open conversations across fields, disciplines, experts and genres. We see Serendipity as a cultural platform that would make art inclusive, immersive and accessible to all.
What’s your vision through a festival with different segments under a single name?
The idea is to increase public interface towards the different types of art practices from the region of South Asia. The festival dislodges the silos of discipline specific events, hosted in isolation, and rather envisions on giving a holistic experience of the arts and various forms or disciplines under one aegis. We aim at creating an environment where all forms of the arts find equal representation and can be accessible to all.
On what basis do you curate performances for the festival?
The festival has a curatorial panel for each discipline, where two domain experts curate the programming— besides showcasing a range of special projects that serve as independent nodes of enquiry. The curators have the freedom to determine the direction and shape of each discipline, pursuing distinct yet overlapping concepts and concerns. What is wonderful is to see how organically each discipline echoes and reflects the concerns pursued by others—evoking the interdisciplinary nature of the arts. Challenges faced
The arts have an innate ability to acclimatize to situations around it, which makes it an inseparable part of any legacy. In our case I think our patrons; partners and supporters have been firm believers of this ideology and have lent us their unconditional support. They have readily joined us year on year to show that they have faith in our sense of purpose to be catalysts of positive social impact and change through the arts. The state government and the local authorities have been very cooperative and helpful in terms of organizing the festival in Panaji. We have organized four editions in Goa and that testifies the level of support we have received from authorities and locals. There are always challenges when it comes to executing anything of this nature and scale, but we hope that every year we overcome the mistakes we make to allow space for new challenges and errors.
Plans for the 2020 festival
Since 2020 will be the fifth year for the festival in Panjim, our intent is to change the structure slightly and bring more interdisciplinary projects to the fore. Along with this we want to celebrate the city of Panjim, our gracious host and supporter and we do hope that this symbiotic relationship between the arts and the city becomes the hero of 2020.