Another day at the Serendipity Arts Festival (SAF) 2023, marked with creative fervour that instilled intellectual stimulation in visitors, unfolded in Panaji on December 20 – the sixth day of the ongoing nine-day multidisciplinary cultural bonanza.
On Wednesday, the Festival’s long list of programmes and events – curated and facilitated by experts – lived up to everyone’s expectations as it ensured all its events left participants richer in experience and with a broader perspective on subjects of their interest.
In doing so, SAF 2023 has created a centre of pilgrimage for artists, craftsmen, innovators, conservationists and all those who are passionately reimagining or reviving the world around them to create a beautiful environment for everyone.
It is this aspect of the Festival that attracted Rajiv Thadani, director of Fullarton Distilleries, to it. Appreciating the positive vibe at SAF 2023, Thadani said, “Serendipity Arts Festival 2023 is at the crossroads of culture, craftsmanship and creativity. This is the sort of place we want to be at and these are the people we want to be around.”
“For every artist born, the world ends up becoming a more beautiful place and we’re glad to be able to play our part by supporting an organisation that provides a platform for all artists, irrespective of experience,” said Thadani.
The local distiller conducted an interactive workshop on ‘Cross Sensory Communication’ at The Food Lab in the Old GMC Complex on Wednesday that provided a deeper insight into the product promotion and branding of Goa’s craft spirits. The educative event, facilitated by Mohit Sadhnani of Fullarton Distilleries, saw attendees dabbling in a bit of branding exercise as they attempted to build a brand on their own.
The Art Park was also charged with similar creative energy as participants at the Mercado (meaning market in Portuguese) workshop – ‘Upcycle With Oh Scrap!’ – transformed rags and unused fabrics into Christmas ornaments. The event was stitched together by Priyanjoli Basu, co-founder of Oh Scrap! Madras, to foster a sense of eco-consciousness and sustainable artistry in people. The Chennai-based entrepreneur did this by prodding participants to mine for sustainable treasures in scraps or waste materials.
‘The Future Of Storytelling II’ at the ESG Auditorium picked up the threads of last year’s talk on new ways and techniques of telling tales. The session was hosted by the Bangalore-based quarterly magazine Svasa Life and Memesys Culture Lab, a local cinema and new media studio. The conversation between filmmaker Anand Gandhi, who is also the founder of Memesys Culture Lab and Zain Memon, a transmedia storyteller, producer and media tech specialist, was scintillating and delved into how storytelling was evolving to effectively capture the audience’s attention and keep them engaged for a longer duration.
At the Access Lounge, ‘Journaling for Mental Health for Kids’ hosted by Bhargavi Raman offered children the opportunity to put down their thoughts and feelings in an artistic manner.
The exhibit, ‘Bamboo: A Way Of Life’, at Samba Square aligned with SAF 2023’s bid to preserve fading traditions and arts. Designer and entrepreneur Sandeep Sangaru’s ‘Curated Walkthrough’ took visitors on a journey to the fascinating and glorious past of bamboo – to a time when the ubiquitous and sturdy wooden material reigned supreme in India and was an integral part of our living.
In recent years, bamboo has been losing ground to its cheaper and easy-to-use alternatives. Sangaru, who is a fierce advocate of traditional materials for contemporary products, strove to bring eco-friendly bamboo back into the reckoning through this project. For this, he collaborated with product designer Rajeev Wind and organisations such as La Mianzi, QX Design, Thumb Impressions, Studio Aro and Woven Threads. SAF 2023’s platform helped these stakeholders to educate people on how they can effortlessly make bamboo a part of their daily lives.
‘Folk Music Reimagined’, the penultimate event of the day, doled out a musical fare at The Arena on the Nagalli Hills Ground, where three-time Grammy Award winner Ricky Kej, along with vocalists Sudhir Yaduvanshi and Siddhartha Belmannu, belted out folk songs in their unique style. The beats of percussionist Keith ‘Wildchild’ Middleton, lead of the New York-based production STOMP, added another layer of foot-stomping and head-bopping to the performance. They injected electric energy into the balmy evening air by giving a fresh twist to folk music, compelling the audience to groove to it.
The musical excitement at the ground reached a crescendo when the three rappers from across India – Krantinaari, Wajid and Pratika – came on the stage and dazzled the audience with their reimagined dramaturgical and range of ragas at the ‘Rasa and Rap’ performance.
The 2023 edition of the Serendipity Arts Festival has several project and institutional partners, such as Institut Français (India), the British Council, Boxout, Japan Foundation, Pro Helvetia Swiss Arts Council, Sampad, Paper Boat Collective, Art South Asia Project, JCB Literature Foundation and more.
