Unboxing BLR Habba: Bengaluru’s citywide festival weaves threads of arts, culture, and innovation

Unboxing BLR Habba: Bengaluru’s citywide festival weaves threads of arts, culture, and innovation

Festivals celebrating a city, like the famous Edinburgh Festival Fringe, play a unique role. They are the threads that weave together the diverse strands — historical, cultural, artistic, social, and economic — of the city’s identity. They emerge as vibrant chronicles that celebrate the spirit of an urban community and capture its pulsating heartbeat. Unboxing BLR Habba (UBH), the inaugural edition of which will unfold from December 1 to 11, wants to be such a festival.

According to festival facilitator Ravichandar V, the goal is to create a comprehensive citywide event that celebrates Bengaluru’s multifaceted identity. With 55 partners across 12 categories, including performing arts, visual arts, literature, design, technology, food, sport, and more, the festival promises an array of 300 events — free and ticketed — distributed across the city. The 11-day gala has merged pre-existing festivals like the Bangalore Tech Summit (BTS), Bangalore Literature Festival (BLF), and Bangalore Design Week (BDW) under one umbrella. Though it is a private-led initiative, it has the state government’s support. 

“Recently, there was an article pondering whether Bangalore is emerging as the new cultural capital of India, with institutions like BIC, Indian Music Experience, Museum of Art & Photography (MAP), and Science Gallery Bengaluru gaining prominence. This festival will fortify this view,” says Ravichandar, who’s also the director of Bangalore International Centre (BIC) and is part of the team that organises BLF.

The idea for UBH was born from the recently released book Unboxing Bengaluru: The City Of New Beginnings by Malini Goyal and Prashanth Prakash. 

“During the book’s writing, Prashanth, who’s active in social and civic issues, felt that Bengaluru needed its own city festival. As the book neared completion in October, he proposed launching it in December. And I volunteered to facilitate the festival,” adds Ravichandar.

The festival collaborates with numerous cultural spaces within the city, such as BIC, IME, MAP, and Bangalore Creative Circus (BCC). Bringing together all these organisations in less than two months must have been daunting. But Ravichandar says, “It wasn’t, they readily came on board. Some of the big festivals like BLF and BDW were already on board and there’s a chance for spaces like BIC or IME to get a new audience through this collaboration. For instance, someone who is signing up for a golf event might check out MAP since everything is under one tent. So, it’s a win-win scenario for the festival and the participating organisations.” 

Collaboration of cultural spaces will strengthen the city’s cultural identity, believes Kamini Sawhney, the director of MAP.