Sunil Kant Munjal, founder and patron of the non-profit Serendipity Arts Foundation, which organises the Serendipity Arts Festival, talks about the highlights of the upcoming edition, accessibility and inclusivity, expansion plans and more. Edited excerpts from an interview:
Serendipity is taking wings with events in Delhi and Puducherry. Will this footprint expand in the coming years?
The Serendipity Arts Festival has been conceived as an event without geographical boundaries. Our emphasis is to make all forms of art as accessible, engaging and informative as possible. This is a democratic festival that encourages active participation and thrives on building communities and ecosystems. By taking the festival beyond Goa, we are aiming to improve access to the arts, increase its outreach and find interesting ways to engage with new audiences. #BeyondSerendipity has taken handpicked performances from the Goa festival to cities like Puducherry, Kolkata and New Delhi and the response has been quite overwhelming. We aim to expand the festival’s footprint in this manner to other Indian cities in the coming years.
What excites you most about the upcoming edition of the festival?
A key emphasis this year would be to give south Asian artistes a platform to amplify their voices and to create a community where young minds can engage, ideate and co-create. Also, as inclusivity and sustainability have been at the heart of previous editions, the 2023 festival will have independent and collaborative projects that highlight sustainability and inclusivity. As in previous years, the festival will continue to have region-specific projects, workshops for people with special needs, and a dedicated segment with children’s programmes.
You have had a presence in the India Art Fair in Delhi in the past couple of years. Will the reverse also happen, not just for the art fair but other events too?
Collaboration and co-creation between art institutes, cultural foundations and artists is vital if we are to succeed in this mission to build a robust art ecosystem. Serendipity Arts Festival continues to collaborate with like-minded individuals and institutions and hopes to develop even more meaningful associations in the future.
Why did you make the decision to charge for some events, even if to weed out non-serious participants?
For all purposes, accessibility and inclusivity will remain at the heart of the festival. This year, we have introduced a nominal fee for select projects owing to seating constraints that we face. From our experience, we realised that limited seating at certain venues led to overcrowding and reduced the quality of the immersive experience. So, pricing was introduced merely to enhance the audience experience. In any case, the fees are nominal and won’t pinch the pocket.
We have never categorised our visitors as serious or non-serious participants; our festival encourages participation from people across age groups and profiles. We don’t expect everyone to instantly begin caring about art, but we do hope that once the audiences experience a multitude of artistic expressions at the festival, there will be greater sensitivity, awareness and interest about our cultural traditions and practices, which over time could lead to embracing of art as a way of life.