70 EMG Produces Another Flawless Edition of Kala Ghoda Arts Festival

by  EVENTFAQS Bureau Entertainment | February 21, 2019 | News

Kala Ghoda Arts Festival 70 EMG

Over the last 20 years, Kala Ghoda Arts Festival (KGAF) has grown to be the biggest cultural fiesta in the country. The festival which had humble beginnings towards the turn of the century has now become an established brand over its two decades of existence. Incidentally, 2019 also marked 17 years of togetherness for Kala Ghoda Association and their long-time event partner Seventy Event Media Group. 70 EMG, known for bringing to life some of the biggest events and festivals in the country, have been instrumental in ensuring flawless operation of the festival.

One of the biggest attractions of KGAF are its selection of carefully curated events and workshops which are open to everyone for a total cost of zero. Over the years, the biggest names in music, dance, film, and other fine arts have graced the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival with their presence. Each year, the festival theme dictates the line-up of events and artists. Not surprisingly, this year’s theme was ‘Kala Ghoda at 20’, to celebrate its milestone 20th anniversary. 

Each year, people from all over Mumbai, and India, flock to this crescent-shaped art district to be a part of the KGAF. As is the tradition, this year as well, the festival opened its gates from the first Saturday of February to the succeeding Sunday, i.e. February 2 – 10, 2019. 

On the momentous occasion of the 20th year of KGAF, the Kala Ghoda Association kick-started nine days of festivities with the launch of the book titled ‘People Called Kala Ghoda’ which captures the essence to this cultural movement over the last two decades and highlights the contributions of all the individuals and organizations who’ve been instrumental in making Kala Ghoda Arts Festival one of the biggest cultural festivals in India. 

The attendees visited events and activities in various categories such as Children, Cinema, Dance, Food, Heritage Walks, Literature, Music, Standup Comedy, Street, Theatre, Urban Design and Architecture, Visual Arts and Workshops. Following the precedence set over the last few years, the newly-introduced genres of Food and Standup Comedy once again garnered a lot of attention and attendance. The traditional favourites Cinema and Theatre continued to entertain the audiences with breath-taking performances on stage and cinematic excellence on screen. Not surprisingly, with artist line-up comprising of some of the most talented musicians like Niladri Kumar, Trilok Gurtu, Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, Apache Indian and Prakriti and Sukriti Kakar; the Music shows were the biggest crowd pullers. The event reached crescendo with Kabir Café, Anushka Manchanda and headlining act Shaan increasing the decibel levels in front of a packed audience at the Asiatic Library Steps on the last evening.

70 EMG was responsible for the overall management and production of the festival and to supplement the individual curators so that they can bring the best content in their field to life. The event whose popularity has been soaring each year saw a footfall of half a million attendees over the course of nine days. Managing an audience of this size was no mean feat but 70 EMG’s event managers ensured that the attendees could make the most out of the event and the entire festival is run without any hiccups. For smooth running of 600+ events across 14 verticals, 70 EMG employed 14 event managers and 14 teams with each vertical being managed as a separate event. With over 40 CCTV cameras, 65 personnel from 70 EMG, DFMD, sniffer dogs and drones; till date no security matter was reported in the premise of the festival.

At the culmination of another successful edition of Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, Sushant Arora, Managing Director of 70 EMG Delhi and KGAF project lead said, “We’ve been a part of Kala Ghoda [Arts Festival] since 17 years now and on this milestone 20th anniversary, we couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride on how far all of us have come together. When we started preparing for this year’s event, we knew this was going to be bigger and better than any of the previous editions. All the teams did a great job of putting together a brilliant event and we’re excited to be a part of Kala Ghoda’s success story.”