Kala Ghoda Arts Festival | A Tour

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Mumbai is the city of commerce, but it is also a place where different forms of art thrive. Over the years, Mumbai has become the entertainment capital of India. The Kala Ghoda Arts Festival a.k.a. KGAF is an annual festival that celebrates different forms of arts and crafts in India.

Being a student of the Elphinstone College, I’ve always been attracted towards it. The first ever Kala Ghoda Arts Festival happened in 1999. I was in the college then. It wasn’t the same kind of festival that we see and experience today. Today, the festival has grown into a bigger event with more sponsors and a large audience.

Where Does Kala Ghoda Arts Festival Takes Place?

Since its inception, the KGAF takes place in the Kala Ghoda area in South Mumbai. Kala Ghoda is a crescent-shaped art and office district in downtown Mumbai. This area is packed with heritage buildings, colleges, museums and art galleries and educational institutions. You can find buildings here like the Rhythm House and the Mumbai Samachar building.

Is There Any Entry Fee for Kala Ghoda Arts Festival?

No. The KGAF is open to all. However, you will have to go through the security parameters and stand in long queues to get in.

How Do I Get to Kala Ghoda Festival from Churchgate Station?

• By Car
• On Foot

How Do I Get to Kala Ghoda Festival from CST Station?

• By Car
• On Foot

Plan Your KGAF Trip

The entire Kala Ghoda Arts Festival happens across the course of a week. The festival is divided into 12 sections which includes cinema, music, dance, food, literature and more. There are more than 11 venues where the festival takes place.

This means it is very hard to cover every section of the festival at the same time. In fact, impossible because multiple events are happening at multiple venues at the same time.

Hence, you need to prioritize your choices. The Kala Ghoda Association official website will put up the entire schedule of the festival a week before the event. You can choose the sections you prefer and pick and plan what you want to cover. The schedule will provide you with the time, date and venue of the event to help you plan your trip.

Experience at the KGAF

Being a free event you will definitely find plenty of crowd here. However, if you wish to avoid it, you can visit this event in the morning-afternoon hours on weekdays. On weekends, there are more people visiting it and therefore you will find it overcrowded.

Over the years, the festival has grown and that has led to more people visiting it. Earlier, there weren’t more sponsors for the event. However, lately there have been more sponsors and better positive response.

If you have never experienced a musical street festival that celebrates different forms of art you should definitely visit this place. You can come here alone or with friends, family and colleagues. To begin with, you can explore the art installations and shop at the stalls nearby.

There are various other venues where you can explore more on food, literature and books and visual arts. If you love music you can head to the Asiatic Library steps where you can enjoy some great musical street festival.

The Underwhelming Aspects

Being an Indian, I know how to manage myself in the crowd. However, overcrowding is certainly one of the underwhelming aspects of the festival. If you are visiting this place in the afternoon-evening hours you will find plenty of people around you. This doesnt allow you to experience and appreciate the installations.

Earlier, the festival was less popular and only art enthusiasts would come in at the festival. Consequently, the widespread popularity of the festival has kind of ruined the charm of the festival. Now, you can find plenty of people just loitering around in the crowd. Probably they are just there with someone or busy taking selfies. College kids visit the festival in groups just to hangout here and update their Instagram profile.

This brings me to my next point – the selfies. KGAF is a festival that celebrates Mumbai and its people. People from all walks of life are welcomed here to explore art, music, literature, food, books and dance. However, a huge chunk of the crowd here is more focused on taking selfies in front of every installation that they come across.

So, while you are busy observing the installation people just come and stand in front of the installation for their pose. This kind of robs you of the experience you want. When that person is done clicking pictures someone else immediately steps in again. This I definitely have no issues with people clicking selfies and images. However, it is sad to see people more interested in clicking their own pictures than appreciating art.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival has undergone change in the past few years. No other art festival in Mumbai can offer you the kind of variety and experience that you get here. Probably, that’s why there has been a steady growth in the number of visitors every year.

If you haven’t visited the festival ever before we would recommend you visiting it at least once. If you want to avoid the crowd you can choose a weekday. Also, you must dedicate few hours to explore the installations and the stalls and shops at the festival. If there is a crowd you might have to spend few minutes going through the security check queue. Hence, you need to take that time into consideration.

Enjoy few more images below: