For 10 years, the Serendipity Arts Festival (SAF)—though rooted in the neighbourhood of Panjim—has infused the entire city of Goa with a vibrant, all-embracing celebration of the arts. Riverfronts and heritage buildings, cultural institutions and forgotten corners are transformed as renowned and rising artists, along with countless creative collaborators, gather for a rich multidisciplinary exchange. Diverse artists shaping culture across South Asia and beyond—through visual arts, theatre, music, literature, culinary arts, craft and new media practices—collectively build a platform whose scale, spectacle and impact remain unmatched in the country. Since its inception, SAF has positioned itself as a global stage rooted in contemporary India, where artistic forms, creative disciplines, discourses, people and practices intersect to create meaningful impact for the wider creative community. The festival—beyond its week-long programme hosted in December every year—expands into various formats of engagement throughout the year in the form of residencies, grants, competitions and art showings.

In a recent conversation with Samta Nadeem, curatorial director at STIR, Sunil Kant Munjal—founder patron of SAF—spoke at length about the vision behind creating an all-embracing arts festival and the curatorial ambitions driving its landmark 10th edition, scheduled from December 12-21, 2025. The edited conversation offers insight into the festival’s foundational ethos while shedding light on the value of interdisciplinarity, cultural patronage and the essential need for arts in the times we are living in.

“Right from day one, we built it as a neutral platform where everyone is welcome,” Munjal told Nadeem, highlighting one of the enduring ideas of the festival since it launched in 2016. Every year, the city makes space for SAF programmes to unfold in a way that makes it as much a celebration of the locals as it is of the artists and curators involved. The festival’s inclusivity—free entry, barrier-free access and broad participation—plays a huge role in its identity as a space that the people of Goa have embraced as their own. Dwelling on the efforts made to welcome diverse audiences, Munjal added, “We invite children from schools, kids from orphanages, transgender communities, elders from care homes, visitors with learning challenges or those who are deaf, mute and blind. We run special curated programmes for them.”

SAF is an initiative of Serendipity Arts—a New Delhi-based not-for-profit collaborative platform that nurtures artistic talent, promotes research and provides sustainability and education in the field of arts. The platform actively fosters cross-cultural dialogue and provides an experimental space where creative voices and stories emanating from South Asia are woven into a vibrant ecosystem that welcomes everyone. “We invite some of the most acknowledged leaders of different art forms, and also those who are able to work across different disciplines because we want to make sure this interdisciplinarity goes all the way through the entire programme, starting from the design itself,” Munjal said, elaborating on the festival framework.

The very idea of patronage is to do this in a manner that you are able to get the outcomes you are looking for. I don’t think it’s only about getting your name on top of a building or anything of that nature. It’s about creating institutions that outlast all of us. – Sunil Kant Munjal, Founder Patron, Serendipity Arts Festival

Each edition of SAF follows a curatorial vision and key artistic explorations rooted in the cultural, social and creative dialogues of that year. Past editions have explored themes such as the relationship between people, place and environment, our intangible cultural heritage, innovation and accessibility of the arts in the virtual world and plurality of lived experiences. Sections of the 2024 edition spotlighted art and AI, particularly how technology and sensory engagement redefine our relationship with art.

The 10th anniversary edition has 35 curators, significantly more than the usual 10 to 14, and includes artists who have worked with SAF over the past decade. The curation places a strong emphasis on its theatre and dance programme, where compelling stories will be woven in formats ranging from intimate monologues to grand, multisensory productions. Visual arts and photography will also have an equally important space in the festival through exhibitions exploring craft traditions, coastal histories, participatory art and contemporary lens-based practices.

This edition also marks a series of special events through which SAF travels to 10 cities around the world, including Birmingham, Dubai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and Varanasi, to engage with different audiences. “We wanted to expose ourselves to see how we can operate with completely different environments and different geographies,” Munjal stated, adding that the next location for these mini versions of the festival will be Paris.

Munjal, also the chairman of Hero Enterprise, discussed the importance of patronage in creating impact—not only for artists’ livelihoods but also for the culture, ecology and creative economy of a city. “The culture of giving is not new in India. It's historic, but our giving of late has been minuscule compared to what I believe the need is. [...] The very idea of patronage is to do this in a manner that you are able to get the outcomes you are looking for. I don’t think it’s only about getting your name on top of a building or anything of that nature. It’s about creating institutions that outlast all of us,” he explained.

In many ways, the Serendipity Arts Festival’s decade-long journey reflects Munjal’s belief that the arts and enterprise are not separate worlds but mutually enriching forces. As he often emphasises, truly impactful leadership emerges from ‘left brain, right brain functioning’, where analytical thinking and creative intuition coexist. Through SAF and its year-round initiatives, this philosophy takes tangible shape—artists are not only offered a platform to showcase their work but are also exposed to the organisational, strategic and entrepreneurial tools that can help them build sustainable careers.

In its landmark 10th edition, SAF stands as both a catalyst and a testament to the transformative potential of interdisciplinary engagement—an institution built to outlast its founders, and to inspire generations of thinkers, makers and leaders to come.

In a world defined by volatility and rapid change, Munjal argues that the arts cultivate the very sensibilities—adaptability, imagination, nuanced decision-making—that leaders need most. By nurturing these values, the festival continues to grow beyond a cultural celebration; it becomes a model for how creativity, community and commerce can converge to empower artists and enrich the broader ecosystem.

Watch our full interview with Sunil Kant Munjal by tapping on the banner image. STIR is an art partner with Serendipity Arts Festival 2025.

Video Team
Creative Director: Ishika Paruthi
Production & Post Production: MS2 Entertainment