Day 1
Wednesday, 10th Dec’ 25
Launch | 4pm Onwards
Join us for the launch of the 2nd edition of the Govandi Arts Festival as we open doors to a world of performances, films, installations, and exhibitions. This preview offers a first look at the artists, stories, and experiences that will unfold across Natwar Parekh Compound in the next 4 days.
Day 2
Thursday, 11th Dec’ 25
Day 2 | All Day Exhibits | 3pm Onwards
Young photographers from Govandi capture gritting stories of displacement, livelihood and household culture, as they document the lives and stories of people from their own neighborhood.
Khuli Kitaab | A photography exhibition
Young artists from Govandi come together– using shapes, forms and patterns illustrate the banality of everyday life in Govandi.
Fabric of Govandi | A Public Art exhibition
Women from Govandi, with the direction and guidance of the artist-in-residence stitch together their shared geography, memories, and routines.
Har Gully Ek Gaon | A textile installation
Children of Govandi, alongside facilitators, create monsters that embody their stories of resilience, struggle, hardship, and joy.
Monsters of My Mind Garden | An installation
Mehnat Aur Mohabbat | An installation and mural
The women and transgender community of Aravani Arts and Govandi come together to make art that reflects their lived realities, aspirations, and collective spirit.
Community Design Agency: A Decade in a Glimpse
This exhibition traces nearly a decade of Community Design Agency’s work in Govandi, highlighting the non-linear trajectory that is characteristic to participatory, community-driven processes.
Foxpassers is the story of a youth football club in Govandi told through portraiture and documentary photography.
Foxpassers
Lanterns made alongside Lamplighter Arts Cic by Avon Indian Association, young refugees and Bristol Refugee Arts Collective have been sent to Govandi Arts Festival 2025 as a gift from Glastonbury Festival Greenfields to share an international message of Peace and Friendship.
Lamplighters
Day 2 | Workshops | 3pm - 5pm
Through this workshop, Dev aka Zindagi Mubarak chimes to melodies and rhymes with Govandi’s children and youth.
Zindagi Mubarak | Workshop by Dev
Live Art | Workshops by Homework Studio
Facilitated by in-house mentor Sanskar Sawant and his team, participants young and old engage in creative activities like screen printing, paint by numbers, collage making and lino cutting on the Festival days.
Voices of Govandi - A Community Quilt | Workshop by Indu Harikumar
This workshop invites women from the Govandi community to create a quilt that reflects their aspirations, lived experiences and voices.
In this workshop led by a woman artist from the community, people share, explore and discuss the art of make-up.
Makeup | Workshop by Suraiya Mandal
Coming Together - Identifying Personal Impact On Community Through Art | Workshop by Saturday Art Class
In this interactive workshop, participants receive a puzzle piece and reflect on their unique impact on the world around them.
Day 2 | Games | 3pm - 5pm
Govandi’s young gaming artists collaborate with the artist-in-residence, as they design and author the game ‘Mohalla’. Mohalla is a semi-cooperative engine-building game for 2 to 6 players about finding the balance between "mine" and "ours".
Mohalla
Day 2 | Film Screenings | 3:30pm - 6pm
Director Asif Akbar captures the story of a rapper from the neighbourhoods of Govandi and our very own Rap and Music mentor, Saniya MQ.
Raise the Voice | 3pm
All Living Things Environmental Film Festival comes to Govandi with a line up of today’s untold stories of regeneration, activism, crisis and hope climate stories from India and the world. witness.
ALT EFF | 4:30pm
Day 2 | Performances | 6pm - 9:30pm
Mesmerise with the melodies of Dev aka Zindagi Mubarak, a travelling singer-songwriter whose music blends love, humour, and social justice
Zindagi Mubarak | 6pm
Open Mic | 6:30pm
An open space for anyone and everyone to share their talent.
Arising from the Rap & Music Mentorship Programme of 2025, these emerging young rappers break through the grit, spitting bars one beat at a time.
Iconic G | 7:30pm
Jungle Assembly | 8:30pm
A conscious sound collective that is inspired by nature & everything around them.
Day 3
Friday, 12th Dec’ 25
Day 3 | All Day Exhibits | 3pm Onwards
Young photographers from Govandi capture gritting stories of displacement, livelihood and household culture, as they document the lives and stories of people from their own neighborhood.
Khuli Kitaab | A photography exhibition
Young artists from Govandi come together– using shapes, forms and patterns illustrate the banality of everyday life in Govandi.
Fabric of Govandi | A Public Art exhibition
Women from Govandi, with the direction and guidance of the artist-in-residence stitch together their shared geography, memories, and routines.
Har Gully Ek Gaon | A textile installation
Children of Govandi, alongside facilitators, create monsters that embody their stories of resilience, struggle, hardship, and joy.
Monsters of My Mind Garden | An installation
Mehnat Aur Mohabbat | An installation and mural
The women and transgender community of Aravani Arts and Govandi come together to make art that reflects their lived realities, aspirations, and collective spirit.
Community Design Agency: A Decade in a Glimpse
This exhibition traces nearly a decade of Community Design Agency’s work in Govandi, highlighting the non-linear trajectory that is characteristic to participatory, community-driven processes.
Foxpassers is the story of a youth football club in Govandi told through portraiture and documentary photography.
Foxpassers
Lanterns made alongside Lamplighter Arts Cic by Avon Indian Association, young refugees and Bristol Refugee Arts Collective have been sent to Govandi Arts Festival 2025 as a gift from Glastonbury Festival Greenfields to share an international message of Peace and Friendship.
Lamplighters
Day 3 | Workshops | 3pm - 5pm
Through this workshop, Dev aka Zindagi Mubarak chimes to melodies and rhymes with Govandi’s children and youth.
Zindagi Mubarak | Workshop by Dev
Facilitated by in-house mentor Sanskar Sawant and his team, participants young and old engage in creative activities like screen printing, paint by numbers, collage making and lino cutting on the Festival days.
Live Art | Workshops by Homework Studio
Voices of Govandi - A Community Quilt | Workshop by Indu Harikumar
This workshop invites women from the Govandi community to create a quilt that reflects their aspirations, lived experiences and voices.
In this workshop led by a woman artist from the community, people share, explore and discuss the art of make-up.
Makeup | Workshop by Suraiya Mandal
Clay-In-Faces | Workshop by Rashi Jain at Studio Karva | 4pm - 6pm
Sensitising with touch and expression, participants create clay masks and speak about the earth in our hands and its elements.
‘Zones of Me’, Emotion Exploration Through Art | Workshop by Slam Out Loud
Inspired by the "Zones of Regulation" framework, this hands-on workshop facilitated by Slam Out Loud uses color, texture, and mixed media to help children and youth identify and express their emotions.
Day 3 | Games | 3pm - 5pm
Govandi’s young gaming artists collaborate with the artist-in-residence, as they design and author the game ‘Mohalla’. Mohalla is a semi-cooperative engine-building game for 2 to 6 players about finding the balance between "mine" and "ours".
Mohalla
Day 3 | Panel Discussion | 3pm - 4pm
Urban Peripheries and The Politics of Care, Climate And Community
Moderator: Vani Herlekar (Founder, City Collab)
Panelists: TBD
This panel discussion brings together practitioners working in M/East ward of Mumbai or similar neighbourhoods like Natwar Parekh, across significant yet interconnected domains like health, urban development, climate resilience to reflect on what it means to work at the intersection of these overlapping crises.
Day 3 | Film Screenings | 4pm - 7pm
All Living Things Environmental Film Festival comes to Govandi with a line up of today’s untold stories of regeneration, activism, crisis and hope climate stories from India and the world. witness.
ALT EFF | 4-5:30pm
Our Youth filmmakers are a passionate group of 6 young artists, of age 13-21 years, who use the medium of film to challenge dominant narratives and explore themes of aspiration, identity, gendered violence, the relationship between the spaces we inhabit and more.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with the filmmakers.
Pehchaan | 5:30-6:30pm
Gutter Ki Machhli is an animation film that weaves together the voices of the children, youth and women of a rehabilitation and resettlement colony in Govandi, Mumbai through their drawings and poetry to vocalise, localise and visualise their experiences of climate change.
Gutter Ki Machhli | 6:30pm
Day 3 | Performances | 7pm - 10pm
Children from Slam Out Loud share and perform an endearing collection of self-written poems.
Poetry & Musical by Slam Out Loud | 7pm
Through comedy, improvisation, and exaggeration, our young clowning artists, along with the artist-in-residence perform a clowning act, advocating for a humane and just world.
Govandi Bolta Hain “Main Hoon” | 7:30pm
Shreyas Manohar is bringing Family friendly and relatable comedy to Govandi alongside Chandrika Rao, Tarang Hardikar, Aditya Gundeti.
Stand-Up Comedy | 8pm
Our 2025 rappers, Iconic G share the stage with Code 43, a group of four rappers mentored during the Govandi Arts Festival, 2023. Code 43 use rap to express themselves and change the perception of their neighbourhood – often cast as a place of crime and drugs
Code 43 Feat. Iconic G | 9pm
Day 4
Saturday, 13th Dec’ 25
Day 4 | All Day Exhibits | 3pm Onwards
Young photographers from Govandi capture gritting stories of displacement, livelihood and household culture, as they document the lives and stories of people from their own neighborhood.
Khuli Kitaab | A photography exhibition
Young artists from Govandi come together– using shapes, forms and patterns illustrate the banality of everyday life in Govandi.
Fabric of Govandi | A Public Art exhibition
Women from Govandi, with the direction and guidance of artist-in-residence stitch together their shared geography, memories, and routines.
Har Gully Ek Gaon | A textile installation
Monsters of My Mind Garden | An installation
Children of Govandi, alongside facilitators, create monsters that embody their stories of resilience, struggle, hardship, and joy.
Mehnat Aur Mohabbat | An installation and mural
The women and transgender community of Aravani Arts and Govandi come together to make art that reflects their lived realities, aspirations, and collective spirit.
Community Design Agency: A Decade in a Glimpse
This exhibition traces nearly a decade of Community Design Agency’s work in Govandi, highlighting the non-linear trajectory that is characteristic to participatory, community-driven processes.
Foxpassers is the story of a youth football club in Govandi told through portraiture and documentary photography.
Foxpassers
Lanterns made alongside Lamplighter Arts Cic by Avon Indian Association, young refugees and Bristol Refugee Arts Collective have been sent to Govandi Arts Festival 2025 as a gift from Glastonbury Festival Greenfields to share an international message of Peace and Friendship.
Lamplighters
Day 4 | Workshops | 3pm - 5pm
Through this workshop, Dev aka Zindagi Mubarak chimes to melodies and rhymes with Govandi’s children and youth.
Zindagi Mubarak | Workshop by Dev
Facilitated by in-house mentor Sanskar Sawant and his team, participants young and old engage in creative activities like screen printing, paint by numbers, collage making and lino cutting on the Festival days.
Live Art | Workshops by Homework Studio
Mehndi | Workshop by Zaiba Shaikh and Bushra Qadri
This workshop invites women from the Govandi community to create a quilt that reflects their aspirations, lived experiences and voices.
Voices of Govandi - A Community Quilt | Workshop by Indu Harikumar
In this workshop led by women artists from the community, people come together to enjoy the art of mehndi.
‘Zones of Me’, Emotion Exploration Through Art | Workshop by Slam Out Loud
Inspired by the "Zones of Regulation" framework, this hands-on workshop facilitated by Slam Out Loud uses color, texture, and mixed media to help children and youth identify and express their emotions.
Food Stories Float | Workshop by Shruti Gaonkar
This workshop is a space to participate and share stories of food memories and express them with a variety of soft tactile materials like fabrics, yarn, colors and pens.
D epicentre’s flagship climate story-finding and sharing initiative, Climate Compass, seeks to bridge the chasm, between dread and indifference, towards climate change, with young citizens as co-travellers in a playful way.
Climate Compass | Workshop by Sudebi
Day 4 | Games | 3pm - 5pm
Govandi’s young gaming artists collaborate with the artist-in-residence, as they design and author the game ‘Mohalla’. Mohalla is a semi-cooperative engine-building game for 2 to 6 players about finding the balance between "mine" and "ours".
Mohalla
Day 4 | Film Screenings | 3:30pm - 4:30pm
The Nagari Film Competition brings its live-action documentary films with strong narratives to Natwar Parekh Compound this year! It is an annual competition designed to guide and develop films that focus on urban issues, specific to Indian cities. Nagari intends to be a bioscope for the city, and through this lens we explore diverse conditions and engage with urban issues.
Nagari Film Competition | 3:30pm
Day 4 | Performances | 5pm - 9pm
Emerging from the hood, Dharavi Dreams is a powerful theatre experience that showcases the journey of under-resourced youth through hip-hop, music, and storytelling.
Dharavi Dreams | 5pm
Presented by our very own artists from the theatre mentorship 2025, witness the drama unfold as youth from Govandi use theatre, humour, and rap to make their story visible.
Govandi Ke Superheroes | 7pm
Arising from the Rap & Music Mentorship Programme of 2025, these emerging young rappers break through the grit, spitting bars one beat at a time.
Iconic G | 8pm
Code 43, a group of four rappers mentored during the Govandi Arts Festival, 2023. Code 43 use rap to express themselves and change the perception of their neighbourhood – often cast as a place of crime and drugs
Code 43 | 9pm
Day 5
Sunday, 14th Dec’ 25
Day 5 | All Day Exhibits | 3pm Onwards
Young photographers from Govandi capture gritting stories of displacement, livelihood and household culture, as they document the lives and stories of people from their own neighborhood.
Khuli Kitaab | A photography exhibition
Young artists from Govandi come together– using shapes, forms and patterns illustrate the banality of everyday life in Govandi.
Fabric of Govandi | A Public Art exhibition
Women from Govandi, with the direction and guidance of the artist-in-residence stitch together their shared geography, memories, and routines.
Har Gully Ek Gaon | A textile installation
Children of Govandi, alongside facilitators, create monsters that embody their stories of resilience, struggle, hardship, and joy.
Monsters of My Mind Garden | An installation
Mehnat Aur Mohabbat | An installation and mural
The women and transgender community of Aravani Arts and Govandi come together to make art that reflects their lived realities, aspirations, and collective spirit.
Community Design Agency: A Decade in a Glimpse
This exhibition traces nearly a decade of Community Design Agency’s work in Govandi, highlighting the non-linear trajectory that is characteristic to participatory, community-driven processes.
Foxpassers is the story of a youth football club in Govandi told through portraiture and documentary photography.
Foxpassers
Lanterns made alongside Lamplighter Arts Cic by Avon Indian Association, young refugees and Bristol Refugee Arts Collective have been sent to Govandi Arts Festival 2025 as a gift from Glastonbury Festival Greenfields to share an international message of Peace and Friendship.
Lamplighters
Day 5 | Workshops | 3pm - 5pm
Through this workshop, Dev aka Zindagi Mubarak chimes to melodies and rhymes with Govandi’s children and youth.
Zindagi Mubarak | Workshop by Dev
Facilitated by in-house mentor Sanskar Sawant and his team, participants young and old engage in creative activities like screen printing, paint by numbers, collage making and lino cutting on the Festival days.
Live Art | Workshops by Homework Studio
Voices of Govandi - A Community Quilt | Workshop by Indu Harikumar
This workshop invites women from the Govandi community to create a quilt that reflects their aspirations, lived experiences and voices.
Mehndi | Workshop by Zaiba Shaikh and Bushra Qadri
In this workshop led by women artists from the community, people come together to enjoy the art of mehndi.
Food Stories Float | Workshop by Shruti Gaonkar
This workshop is a space to participate and share stories of food memories and express them with a variety of soft tactile materials like fabrics, yarn, colors and pens.
Day 5 | Games | 3pm - 5pm
Govandi’s young gaming artists collaborate with the artist-in-residence, as they design and author the game ‘Mohalla’. Mohalla is a semi-cooperative engine-building game for 2 to 6 players about finding the balance between "mine" and "ours".
Mohalla
Day 5 | Film Screenings | 4pm - 5pm
Our Youth filmmakers are a passionate group of 6 young artists, of age 13-21 years, who use the medium of film to challenge dominant narratives and explore themes of aspiration, identity, gendered violence, the relationship between the spaces we inhabit and more.
Pehchaan
Gutter Ki Machhli is an animation film that weaves together the voices of the children, youth and women of a rehabilitation and resettlement colony in Govandi, Mumbai through their drawings and poetry to vocalise, localise and visualise their experiences of climate change.
Gutter Ki Machhli
Day 5 | Performances | 5pm - 10pm
Through comedy, improvisation, and exaggeration, our young clowning artists, along with the artist-in-residence perform a clowning act, advocating for a humane and just world.
Govandi Bolta Hain “Main Hoon” | 5pm
Presented by our very own artists from the theatre mentorship 2025, witness the drama unfold as youth from Govandi use theatre, humour, and rap to make their story visible.
Govandi Ke Superheroes | 6pm
Arising from the Rap & Music Mentorship Programme of 2025, these emerging young rappers break through the grit, spitting bars one beat at a time.
Iconic G | 7pm
An internet sensation known for his melodic beatboxing on MTV Hustle, Danish, our in-house mentor at the 2025 Rap Mentorship moves the crowd with his rap, shayari, and songs.
Rap Performance by Danish | 8pm
DJ set by DRJ Sohail | 9pm
Our in-house mentor and music producer, DRJ Sohail will end the show with his beats!