A festival for everyone

Updated On: 15 May, 2022 08:38 PM IST | Mumbai | Ela Das

Jonathan Kennedy discusses a unique effort at culture tourism with a digital platform that will showcase India’s festivals and connections with the UK

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The audience at the Ziro Festival of Music in Arunachal Pradesh in 2019. Pic/Mohit Sharma

This is really about driving a systemic change in the the art and culture industry,” explains Jonathan Kennedy, Director of Arts in India at the British Council, when looking back at the digital platform created to discover hundreds of festivals in the country. Named Festivals from India (www.festivalsfromindia.com) the digital platform allows culture vultures to discover a range of festivals from every Indian state, and across several genres ranging from folk art, craft and dance to food, photography, literature and film. “We want to create a bigger narrative around our work in arts and culture, and around expression, exchange and enterprise, showcasing the scale of festivals and creativity in the country,” says Delhi-based Kennedy.

Sur Jahan, an annual three-day world and folk music festival in Kolkata presented by Banglanatak