Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2018 returns with the theme of “Hara Ghoda!

The city’s much awaited and the largest multi cultural festival organized by the Kala Ghoda Association is back with a bang!

The Kala Ghoda Art Festival 2018 that is held annually in the month of February, seeks to showcase a kaleidoscope of events that brings alive the rich culture of art in every form. KGAF 2018 will commence on 3^rd Feb and will end on 11^th Feb, 2018. The theme for KGAF 2018 is Hara Ghoda.

Talking about the grandeur of the festival, Festival Coordinator, Nicole Mody said ” Having been lucky enough to be a part of  KGAF for many years, I’ve experienced the evolution of the festival and seen it grow to an iconic event in the Mumbai City calendar so for me it’s both a challenge to take it to new and innovative heights, as well as paying homage to the rich tradition of art and culture we come from.” Nicole adds, “This year we’re looking at embracing young artists and performers who don’t conform to traditional ideas of expression. The theme is Hara Ghoda which is a movement in itself and I am excited to see how the city participates in one of India’s most loved art and culture festivals. ”

Each year the passionate team of Kala Ghoda Art Festival makes a great effort to bring new and innovative changes to the already diverse program. A detailed press note is duly attached with this email.

Topics of climate change, of dwindling natural resources, of clean food, organic and healthy eating and living are everywhere. This theme is a nod to those issues, while at the same time revelling in the beauty of nature, in the peace found in greenery and in celebrating the natural history of the world.  The Kala Ghoda Arts Festival brings to the stage the wonders of nature shown through performance and art. The raging flames of the Fire of victory (agni), the liquid blue of Aqua (jal), the indefinable Air (vayu), the indestructible Earth (prithvi) and the realms of Space (akash), finds its place and artistic representation at the Festival.

Here are the Top 10 things you need to watch out for this year at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival:

CHILDREN

This Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2018 is going to be a Green one indeed! This year we are excited and keen on curating a milieu of  workshops in keeping with the festival theme ‘Hara Ghoda’! This year KGAF aims at an umbrella of art sessions that include art and craft, dance, music, story- telling, creative writing, puppetry, theatre, science, math, yoga and wellness. Kids installations will be created to the theme ‘Green Shades of Life’.

DANCE

Dance at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival is the natural synchronization of rhythm and footwork. It is an all-encompassing and engulfing celebration that spreads over six days of storytelling and confluence of cultures. Various artistes and celebrated performers from Global India will set the stage ablaze over six days. The stage shall hold ground for 48 performances, over 550 dancers and musicians through the festival with 11 dance performances being performed to live music including Vani Ganpati, Sharmishta Mukherji, Sandeep Soparrkar, Pernia Qureshi and Paris Laxmi.

FOOD

Theme- Hara Bhara

KGAF is taking the festival theme Hara Ghoda and incorporating in every possible way. The emphasis is on Go Green and eating local. A line up of cook off’s, workshops and fun food activities are all set to amaze you this year. Meet popular chefs Sandeep Shreedharan, Varun Inamdar, Zeba Kohli, Thomas Zacharias and Shivesh Bhatia among others as you go on a culinary journey through India’s diverse cuisine.

HERITAGE WALKS

This year’s walks are themed ‘BOMBAY’ GREEN. The most energy-efficient building may be the one already built…. “New Life” and “Old Buildings” appear as contradicting philosophies, but while we are building are way to sustainability, lets conserve what is already green? This being the premise of “Hara Ghoda” embracing the most pressing need of the hour to work towards creating an environment built and unbuilt, Heritage Conservation not only ensures that our irreplaceable historic buildings will be enjoyed by future generations, but also aims to plan for future generations which is walking the path towards sustainability.

LITERATURE

The Literature section of the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 2018 will be focusing on synergies between literature and other mediums of creative expression that, together, move towards the building and nurturing of a strong cultural environment.

MUSIC

Bringing some ‘horse power’ to the stage, we look forward to welcoming Zakir Hussain, L Subramaniam, Papon, KK, OnEmpire, the Mehli Mehta Music Foundation kids, Parthiv Gohil, and so many more to the stage.

STAND UP COMEDY

Haha Hara will bring to you the top most comics in the city on February 5^th, 6th 7th and 8th – out of which one of the days will be an all women line up. New and old comics taking the stage, come fall in love with comedy in its greenest

URBAN DESIGN & ARCHITECTURE

The UDA section at KGAF 2018 will focus on the potential of design and its influence on social, cultural, and everyday lives of people. This section will focus on Interior design as the potential better living with Ashiesh Shah, Rooshad Shroff, Zameer and Ayaz Basrai, Rajiv Saini and also Young architects shaping homes for people – Shilpa and Pinkish Shah, Sameep Padora, Praveen Bavadekar, Pankaj Vir.

VISUAL ARTS

The theme Hara Ghoda – interpreted as elements of nature- for the Visual Arts section of KGAF 2018, has sparked tremendous interest amongst all genres of artists and students. The Horniman Garden will have a never before seen collaboration of well known and established contemporary Indian artists coming together under the stewardship of an able curator.

WORKSHOPS

WORKSHOPS, under its ambiguous name brings together a host of musicians, writers ,waste upcyclers, travellers, photographers, painters and many more masters in different fields to give the participants a variety of experiences and go back enriched in mind and body.

 

An unmissable few days for Mumbaikars to step out of their routines and soak up art, culture, performance, food, literature and film with a strong curatorial perspective and a platoform for artists and performers to shine. There has never been a more relevant time for art to be prioritized so we urge Mumbaikars to come out and support the unhindered voices of their generation. So, Come share the experience, attend as many events over 9 days, make memories, promote the arts and participate in this only non-ticketed festival, where the entry to all KGAF 2018 events are  free.