Festivals From India — Needs & Insights

Author: Dr. Aatreyee Ghosh, Dipti Rao, Kavya Iyer Ramalingam, Rashmi Dhanwani, Dr. Padmini Ray Murray at the Art X Company·16 Sep 2025

Topics

Audience Development

Digital Futures

Reporting and Evaluation

Festivals From India – Needs Analysis & Audience Insights is a research study that aims to outline the needs of the festivals sector in India, how it understands and measures its audiences and how festival goers engage and interact with festivals in India.

The study was commissioned by the British Council as part of its Festivals for the Future programme, which brings emerging and established festivals together to connect, create and collaborate on international projects, with the vision to strengthen the creative economies of India and the UK and enable sustainable capacity building in both countries.

The study and its output were utilised for the creation of this digital portal. Festivals From India, which is supported by the British Council and designed and developed by ArtBramha Consulting LLP., is the first-ever online platform to showcase India’s arts and culture festivals.

Authors: Dr. Aatreyee Ghosh, Dipti Rao, Kavya Iyer Ramalingam, Rashmi Dhanwani, Dr. Padmini Ray Murray at the Art X Company

Key Findings

Over the course of six months, from May through October 2021, almost 700 festivals were mapped in totality from different parts of the country and the process of mapping continues till date.
Many of the festivals, while popular locally, lacked national presence due to lack of media coverage or any form of publicity.
Most festivals in India do not operate with a functional website. Instead, they mostly reach their audience through social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and others.
Most of these festivals often struggle to reach out to a wider database of audience as well as sponsors due to lack of training as well as no institutional or governmental support.
The COVID-19 pandemic transformed the festival scene overnight and its effect will continue to affect the way the festivals sector in India changes and adapts itself.