In conversation with
Ms. Smriti Rajgarhia
Director, Serendipity Arts Foundation & Festival
Tell us how a festival like this was started and how the idea came about On what basis do you curate performances for the festival?
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. 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.
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.
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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.