Mahindra Sanatkada Lucknow Festival: Crafts, Food & Exhibitions!

The annual Mahindra Sanatkada Lucknow Festival, which was started in 2010, is focused on a handicrafts market and exhibition including goods created by artisans all around the nation. In addition to discussions, seminars, walking tours, book launches, exhibitions, film screenings, and cultural performances, the festival takes place over five days during the first week of February.

Every year, the Sanatkada Trust organises a festival with a new theme that highlights a particular element of Lucknow and establishes its visual aesthetics and performances. These include included "Lucknowi Bawarchikhane" (2022), which chronicled the various dishes of the region; "Lucknow ki Rachi Bass Tehzeeb" (2016), which praised the various communities that have enriched the city; and "Feminists of Awadh" (2014), which highlighted female icons from Lucknow. 'Lucknow ke Gali Kooche' is the festival's theme this year.

'Lucknow ke Gali Kooche' - MSLF 2025 Theme:

The colourful tapestries of Yahiyaganj, the busy markets of Chowk, and the classic twists and turns of Chaupatiyan all have new stories to tell in every gali (lane), every chabutra (platform), and every pheriwaala (peddler) as the 16th edition of the Mahindra Sanatkada Lucknow Festival (MSLF 2025) approaches.

The variety, tenacity, and flexibility of Lucknow's public are reflected in these galiyan. Syncretic culture thrives in the city's gali-kooche where many communities have lived side by side for centuries, sharing languages, customs, and traditions.

Therefore, Lucknow ke Gali-Kooche, an investigation of how the people of Lucknow give these galiyan life, is this year's defining subject of MSLF 2025. They hold folklore and traditions that are passed down orally through the generations but are not recorded in history books, making them the guardians of Lucknow's cultural memory.

The festival also seeks to draw attention to the advantages and difficulties of urbanisation, modernisation, and heritage preservation, such as overpopulation, poor sanitation, the loss of cultural heritage as a result of modernisation, and the glaring socioeconomic disparities that are evident in these places.

When: Till 4th February.

Where: Safed Baradari, Qaiserbagh, Lucknow.