First Goa Open Arts Festival, an initiave of the state's creative professionals, to be held in February 2020

Kolkta/IBNS: The Open Arts Initiative, a group of creative professionals living in Goa, is organising the first Goa Open Arts Festival early next year.

An artist driven programme, the Festival aims to galvanise the creative community of Goa and establish this globally acclaimed tourist destination as an artistic hub of India.

Goa has a large pool of resident creative talent - artists, musicians, photographers, designers, writers, chefs, etc. who are native to Goa, as well as those from other parts of India and around the world who have chosen to make Goa their home.

The organising committee of the Goa Open Arts festival includes photographer and curator Prashant Panjiar, designer and design entrepreneur Gurpreet Sidhu, designer and visual artist Gopika Chowfla, founding member of the Goa Arts Collective and artist Diptej Vernekar, and curator and arts manager Sitara Chowfla.

According to the organisers, the vision of this new initiative is to invigorate and connect this Goa-based created community, with the belief that cross-pollination of ideas will catalyse new creativity, and that a creatively engaged population benefits society at large.

The Open Call for artistic submissions received over 150 applications, the organisers said.

Artists selected for the program include Goan artist Walter DSouza and Goan printmakers, visual artist Nandita Kumar, photographer Bharat Sikka, chef Anumitra Ghosh Dastidar (Edible Archives), the Travelling Library Project, Alakananda Nag, Orijit Sen, Nikhil Chopra, Sonia Shirsat, Adrien Roche, Ayesha Seth, Bharath Ramamrutham, and many emerging talents from Goa, including Shilpa Mayenkar, Rujuta Rao, Mustafa Khanbhai, Dheer Kaku, Bhisaji Gadekar, Rajendra Mardolkar, Okedo King Prawns, Nishant Saldanha and others.

Alongside the Visual Arts exhibition, the festival will feature performing arts events including dance, spoken word and poetry; a music stage with a range of acts from Jazz, Fado to Rock and Electronic; a series of panel discussions featuring prominent Goan voices; and a selection of artisanal Goan eateries at the Food Waddo.

With a focus on community building, local impact and bringing awareness to social issues, the inaugural Goa Open Arts festival will host a parallel program of activities, which highlight issues of sustainability and environmental impact.

This subjects will be addressed through specially commissioned artworks, programs with children from the local community, and public talks and panel discussions.

According to the organisers, the Festival will likely be an annual event with an aim to increase its footprint and collaborations with art institutions across India with each edition while the Open Arts Initiative will focus on engaging with Goas creative community throughout the year in the form of workshops, residencies, mentoring events, school interactions, etc.

The Festival is scheduled to take place at the Don Joao Lawns Heritage House (Calangute-Mapusa Rd, Dias Vaddo, Nagoa, Bardez, Goa, 403516) from February 13 to 16, 2020 after the inauguration on February 12. https://www.goaopenarts.com/