Kolkata Centre for Creativity (KCC) has presented the sixth edition of the AMI Arts Festival, its annual multidisciplinary celebration of art and culture, running from November 21 to December 21, 2025. Launched in 2020, the festival marks KCC’s anniversary and continues to serve as a platform for diverse artistic expressions across visual arts, performance, design, and community engagement.
The festival has unfolded across multiple cultural venues in Kolkata, including KCC, the Indian Museum, Victoria Memorial Hall, G. D. Birla Sabhaghar, and Gyan Mancha, featuring a month-long programme of exhibitions, performances, film screenings, workshops, and talks. Distinguished figures such as Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Yogendra Yadav, Chandril Bhattacharya, Arko Mukhaerjee, Swastika Mukherjee, Makrand Deshpande, Kumud Mishra, Seema Pahwa, Malini Awasthi, Ratna Pathak Shah, and Sumeet Vyas will be among the guests and participants.
The festival opened at the Indian Museum on November 21 with addresses by eminent personalities and the inauguration of Breathing With History – Celebrating Rural Heritage Stories (November 21–29), an exhibition organized in collaboration with the Indian Museum and the West Bengal Museum Association. The show will highlight Bengal’s rich rural traditions through crafts, folk art, and music, supported by workshops and discussions. Simultaneously, KCC also hosted Atlas of Serenities: Chronicles of Little Intimacies (November 21–30), a photographic exhibition by Nazes Afroz exploring the subtleties of urban life.
Key highlights include the Madhubani Mithila Exhibition (December 11–21), presented with the KalaDhwani Arts Foundation, showcasing 80 works by award-winning folk artists. The ongoing Shyam Benegal Retrospective: The Lens of Revolution (November 21–January 31) will celebrate the filmmaker’s legacy through exhibitions, screenings, and panel discussions.
Emphasizing diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion (DEAI), the festival hosted programmes for marginalized communities, the LGBTQIA+ collective, and individuals with disabilities. Highlights include Taal-Tarang (November 21), a performance by children of Manovikas Kendra; Disability Day celebrations (December 3); storytelling workshops for children and women from Kolkata’s red-light districts; and Learn Togetherness (December 17), dedicated to LGBTQ+ narratives and visibility.
The musical component features a robust line-up, including Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan and Pt. Anindo Chatterjee in Sitar Samvaad (December 13), Uttar Dakshin (December 17) highlighting Indian classical fusion, and Banaras ke Ghat se Awadh ke Angan Tak (November 28) by Malini Awasthi. Other performances include The Essence of Self Searching (December 11), Songs of Migration (December 18) by Debojyoti Mishra and group, Haay Bhalobashi (December 19) by Arko & Friends ft. Gaboo & Lakkhichhara, and live concerts by Prithibi X Parash Pathar, Agnee, and Parikrama.
Theatre presentations will feature works directed by Seema Bhargava Pahwa, Makarand Deshpande, Shubhrajyoti Barat, and Shukla Banerjee, alongside Mahmood Farooqui’s Dastangoi piece Dastan e Ret Samadhi and Jyoti Dogra’s Maas.
Through its month-long programming, AMI Arts Festival 2025 aims to reaffirm KCC’s mission of nurturing creativity, fostering inclusion, and presenting art as a shared language for cultural connection and collective expression.
Athmaja Biju is the Editor at Abir Pothi. She is a Translator and Writer working on Visual Culture.
