The winter months bring waves of travellers to Goa. The clement coastal state becomes a hub of activity and artistic pursuits flourish in abundance. December, however, is particularly special. Since 2016, the Serendipity Arts Festival (SAF) has held a marked place on the annual calendar, drawing people from all over the world to what has now become one of the largest multidisciplinary cultural events in India. A host of venues by the Mandovi waterfront in Panaji metamorphose into stages, studios and galleries. From 15th to 22nd December, Goa dons the colours of Serendipity. 

SAF’s programming spans visual, performing and culinary arts with an emphasis on the possibilities of marrying varied art forms, pushing their creative boundaries and bringing inclusivity to the heart of curation. 

The curators for the visual arts section this year are Veeranganakumari Solanki and artist duo Thukral & Tagra while helming the theatre section are Quasar Thakore-Padamsee and Sankar Venkateswaran. Bickram Ghosh will lead the music section along with Zubin Balaporia, who curated An Evening of Serendipity with Zakir Hussain among other projects in the previous edition. Bharatanatyam dancer and vocalist Geeta Chandran, along with Jayachandran Palazhy of Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts, will be curating the dance projects and Sandeep Sangaru and Kristine Michael will be steering the craft section of the festival. Elizabeth Yorke and Anusha Murthy will take charge of the culinary arts, an integral part of the festival serving as a playground for interactive workshops and engagement. Lastly, writer and activist Salil Chaturvedi will be identifying ways to improve accessibility at the festival.  

Some of the highlights of the upcoming edition include The Bells by 5AngryMen Theatre Company, a unique outdoor theatre extravaganza combining acrobatics, public installation, street performance, dance and music. Tamaasha Theatre’s BE-LOVED: Theatre, Music, Queerness and Ishq! is a kaleidoscopic exploration of queer love. Thumri in the Chamber features renditions of pieces from the semi-classical genre harmoniously integrated with other musical styles by Priyanka Barve, Sarang Kulkarni, Shikhar Naad Qureshi and a string quartet. A much-anticipated staple experience is River Raag, a daily sunset cruise featuring classical performances by noted artistes departing from the Santa Monica Jetty. 

Literary arts, too, have been an abiding presence in many editions of the SAF, with engaging talks, panels and workshops on pertinent subjects like arts education and pedagogy, cultural patronage, interdisciplinary discourse and access to the arts. The idea is to encourage festival-goers to look at literature as an art practice in itself. 

With a majority of free events and select ticketed ones, the SAF cuts across social strata and brings democratic attendance to Panaji every year. On the cusp of completing a decade, the very fabric of the Serendipity Arts Festival is now entwined with Goa— its people, food and the land on which it unfolds. The festival’s most treasured trait is that the city is the stakeholder.