Mumbai, Feb 14 (PTI) A five-day festival from Wednesday will celebrate the spirit and resilience of the people of Mumbai suburb Govandi through performative and visual arts.

The gala aims at having a strong arts-based framework that focuses on developing and showcasing the skills of geographically and culturally marginalised communities through inclusive processes. It will be one step towards celebrating the Govandi neighbourhood and providing access, exposure and agency to the artists who live there.

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The first-ever Govandi Arts Festival is a part of the India/UK Together, Season of Culture - a programme of arts, English and education that celebrates India's 75th anniversary and builds on the British Council's aim to create opportunities between the two countries.

The upcoming event will witness photography exhibitions, rap performances, film screenings followed by panel discussions, printmaking and makeup workshops, workshops with community members and visitors on making lanterns, and staging of plays.

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Forty-five young people from Govandi were chosen to work with Mumbai-based artists for six months - from August 2022 to February.

For the first time, Lamplighters Arts CIC (UK) will build their famous lantern parade in India for the festival by collaborating with the locals. New art commissions and projects from the mentorship programme will also debut at the fete.

According to Jonathan Kennedy, director (Arts India) at British Council, "The Govandi Arts Festival is one of the standout projects of the India/ UK Together Season of Culture and a shining example of inclusion in the creative sectors, and of the arts and artists connecting the community of Govandi in Mumbai with Bristol in the UK."

The showstopper street procession of spectacular hand-made lanterns by the UK's Lamplighter Arts bringing their iconic lantern parade to India, is especially exciting, he added.

Kennedy said the festival is also a meeting point of the British Council's larger arts work in India to upskill India's future festival sector professionals.

"We are glad that alumni from our festival programmes have been actively engaged in the development of the Govandi Arts Festival, making it a model festival for community-focused culture festivals in the future. Audiences are in for a truly international festival right in the heart of Mumbai's suburbs," he said.

The festival is created on the streets of Mumbai by Community Design Agency (CDA), Lamplighter Arts CIC, and Streets Reimagined (UK) with the goal of connecting, creating, and celebrating with the rest of Mumbai as the neighbourhood marks a year of artistic growth.

With the help of the British Council, the CDA has partnered with Streets Reimagined and Lamplighter Arts from Bristol, UK, who bring their shared practice of using the arts to inspire placemaking and unite communities.

Dee Moxon, co-founder of Lamplighters Arts CIC, said: "The whole of the Lamplighters team is blown away by the sense of excitement, enthusiasm and sheer talent we have experienced during our residency at Govandi. The Govandi Arts Festival is a coming together of beautiful words, sounds and visuals."

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)