It's a potpourri

Nine events, eight venues, more than 21 performances over three weekends — all you culture junkies, artists, critics and art lovers, gear up as BIAF 2013 is sure to blow your minds.

This is BIAF... Bengaluru International Arts Festival was started five years ago keeping in mind the need for an international arts festival in our country. When we used to travel across the globe to attend various fests, we thought why not start something like that in India, a country that has so much talent and is culturally diverse. BIAF showcases performances by legendary as well as upcoming artistes. Since its inception, artistes from more than 25 countries have participated in this festival. This has been curated carefully to rope in various art forms like dance, music, theater, painting and folk arts.

The artistes line-up... From carnatic to western classical, dance drama and folk performances, this year we are bigger and more interesting. A lot of care and effort goes into curating these shows. We do a lot of homework, go back to history and verify facts so that what we present is logical. This year look forward to artistes from different parts of India and also from Mauritius, Sri Lanka and UK. There will also be a Bharatanatyam performance by Dhananjayans and violin by Manjunath & Nagraj among other events.

No looking back... This is the sixth edition and we have only grown bigger over the years. Now we have more people and artistes wanting to be part of it. In fact, the Ministry Of Culture, Govt. Of India has recognised BIAF as one of the top 10 major festivals in India.

As told to Shilpa Bansal