Kala Ghoda Art Festival is a legacy. Started in the year 1998 with an aim to promote the place as the art hub of the state, the festival has gained immense popularity over the years, inviting artists from all corners of the world.
This nine days festival takes place in the month of February every year, starting from the first Saturday and concluding on the second. A non-profit organisation, the Kala Ghoda Association, has different teams handling each of the 12 sections of the festival. The upcoming festival next year is finalised for 4th-12 February, 2017.
So what makes this Kala Ghoda Art Festival, the cynosure of all eyes…
It has everything you could think of, when it comes to the world of art- Music, Visual Arts, Dance, Theatre, Literature, Cinema, Architecture, Urban Design, Food and an exclusive segment for kids in most categories. There are workshops, talks and heritage walks and then there are street installations, stalls selling crafts ware and the entire art faculty around you. You name it and they have it!
Its free- unlike most art festivals that have come off late, Kala Ghoda Art Festival is still about art at every level. All segments are free for all to see, learn, enjoy and absorb.
The best time of the year in Mumbai- February is when Mumbai weather is at its happiest best. The air is fresh with the onset of spring and the city yawns out from some slow end of the year months.
The area is huge. The festival is spread across an area covering more than 1,10,000 sq ft including in its umbrella Prominent places like the National Gallery of Modern Art, the lawns and auditoriums of CSMVS, the garden at the David Sassoon Library, The Museum, Mumbai, the Horniman Circle garden, the Cross Maidan, the M C Ghia Hall, the Tata store at Army and Navy Building and the entire street area of Kaikashru Dubash Marg and its parking lot, popularly called Rampart Row, it covers them all!
It’s well planned. You will be impressed by the sheer hard work and planning by the team that goes into making the festival a huge success. There are help desks and registration desks and there are planners and schedules available to understand the event. The festival has something for everyone.
The non-existent equestrian statue of King Edward VII that once reined the centre of the road may not be there today but that’s how the place got its name, considering the statue was in black. Today, the festival carries the legacy with all its glory!
