PUNE: This December, trade the familiar for eight days of music, theatre, film, visual arts, craft, design, and food at the Serendipity Arts Festival in Goa. Returning from 13–20 December 2026, the festival offers audiences from Maharashtra an opportunity to pair a Goa getaway with an immersive cultural experience, bringing together artists, performers, and audiences across disciplines.
With Mumbai and Goa sharing longstanding cultural connections shaped by music, migration, and communities, the festival’s programme offers several compelling reasons for audiences from Maharashtra to make the journey to Panaji. From live performances and stories rooted in Mumbai’s cultural life to theatre, cinema, and contemporary artistic practices, there is plenty to discover across the eight days.
Music takes centre stage at this year’s festival, with performances spanning independent music, contemporary sounds and traditions that connect communities across the western coast.
A highlight is East Indian Music Co. featuring Jesus Band, curated by Ankur Tewari. The project celebrates East Indian and Konkani songs traditionally performed at Mumbai celebrations, bringing the music of Mumbai’s East Indian community into conversation with Goa’s own musical traditions. Jesus Band, a brass band from Uttan near Mumbai, brings a distinctive local sound to this celebration of shared cultural connections.
Audiences can also catch Baawra Live with Swanand Kirkire, alongside performances by artists including Taba Chake, Sudan, Hashbass Live, and RANJ + Clifr. For those looking to explore independent music, B-side, the festival’s independent music initiative, will bring together artists including Kiss Nuka(live), Direct Drive(vinyl), Marion Hawkes, Panelia, and Sheral at Art Park from 16–19 December.
Reflecting on the Festival’s programming, Mr Sunil Kant Munjal, Founder & Patron, Serendipity Arts, said, “From the start, the Festival has actively encouraged different artistic practices, ideas, and communities to cross paths. Including a majority of the art forms in its fold. This year’s programme builds on that spirit, with a broad selection of projects that move across disciplines, geographies, and generations. We hope some of the most exciting moments will come from unexpected connections, as tradition meets experimentation, the local meets the global, and established practices meet new voices. We want the Festival to remain a place where audiences can approach the arts with curiosity and openness, and leave seeing things a little differently.”
Theatre with stories that stay with you
The festival’s theatre programme moves between historical narratives, popular culture and intimate stories of everyday life.
In The Queen, written by Aditya Rawal and directed by Daniel Owen Dsouza, audiences encounter Queen Durga, a ruler fighting to retain her power and place in 16th-century India after her husband takes another wife. The production combines historical drama with a story of ambition, authority and survival.
For those interested in the stories behind Hindi cinema, Anand Hi Anand, researched, written, designed and narrated by Sohaila Kapur, explores the lives and legacies of Chetan, Dev and Vijay “Goldie” Anand. Through film clips and personal anecdotes, the production offers a lively look at a family that helped shape Bollywood.
Meanwhile, Belly of the Beast brings together four women at different stages of motherhood in a production that uses shadow puppetry, live music, movement and dark humour to explore the experiences of women and the complexities of motherhood.
Looking at the programme this year, Ms. Shefali Munjal, Co-Founder & Patron, Serendipity Arts, says, “If one thread runs through this edition, it is discovery. You might enter the Festival through a performance or an exhibition, a conversation or a meal, a piece of music or a chance encounter in a public space, and each is a different doorway in. Behind those doorways, we have seen artists start from what is closest to them, their own histories and traditions, and use it to speak to the world we live in now. That gives the programme real range, while keeping it close to home. We hope audiences will find their own points of connection within it.”
Art, film and new perspectives on the city
Beyond the stage, the festival’s visual arts and film programming invites audiences to look at familiar places and histories from new perspectives.
In Transient Geographies, artists explore questions of land, migration, borders, labour, and the ways people inhabit and shape their surroundings. The exhibition includes Mumbai-based artist Vikrant Bhise, whose practice engages with caste, labour and social justice, and URBZ, the urban research and design collective founded in Mumbai that works closely with neighbourhoods and their residents.
Film and sound come together in Eyes Shall Deceive, by filmmaker and composer Sneha Khanwalkar and artist Sudarshan Shetty. Shot on 16mm across cities including Mumbai, Kolkata, and Varanasi, the film draws on urban musical folklore, brass bands, chants, percussion and the sounds of everyday life to create an immersive portrait of the city.
The festival also features Sudhir Rajbhar, founder of Mumbai-based Chamar Studio, who partners with Ushan Malalagama, master of Sri Lanka’s demon-mask tradition, to reimagine Maha Sohona, the bear-headed spirit of illness and afterlife, as an oversized, absurdist piece of furniture, blending snake motifs and inherited craft into strange new form. At the Serendipity Arts Residency, Mumbai-based artist Pratik Anil Sutar explores ideas of labour, migration and belonging through the metaphor of broken toys.
Speaking about the artistic direction of this year’s Festival, Smriti Rajgarhia, Director, Serendipity Arts, says, “One of the most rewarding aspects of putting this programme together has been seeing how differently artists respond to the questions of our time. Across disciplines, there is an interest in looking again at histories, traditions, identities, landscapes and ways of living, and in finding new forms through which to tell those stories. We have tried to create the conditions for artists to experiment while staying true to their individual practices, and to give audiences the time and space to engage with that work on their own terms. I think the result is a Festival that is diverse in form, but connected by a genuine spirit of inquiry.”
Make a festival out of your Goa holiday
Whether planning a short break with friends, a family holiday or a longer stay in Goa, Serendipity Arts Festival offers an opportunity to build an itinerary around performances, exhibitions, music and food. With programmes unfolding across Panaji, audiences can explore different art forms, discover new artists and experience the city through its cultural spaces.
For audiences across Mumbai, Pune, Nashik and the rest of Maharashtra, the festival is an invitation to make the most of the December season with a trip that combines Goa’s familiar holiday appeal with a rich programme of arts and culture.
Serendipity Arts Festival 2026 will take place in Panaji, Goa, from 13–20 December 2026. This December, make the journey from Maharashtra to Goa and be part of the experience. To know more about the theatre programming visit – Serendipity Arts Festival Theatre 2026
Registrations Are Now Open
Registrations for Serendipity Arts Festival 2026 are now live! Visit the official festival website to secure your Art Pass, book your tickets, and stay updated on workshops, performances, exhibitions, and more. More programmes will be announced soon so keep checking back for updates.
