Sparking Hope

This year's October Jam-an independent arts and music festival in Bengaluru-promises a fiery lineup around the theme of 'lightning'

- Bhanuj Kappal

IN 2008, with large parts of Bengaluru dug up or cordoned off thanks to the Metro project and massive development works, Maraa, a media and arts collective, launched October Jam as an independent arts festival. The idea behind the free, crowd-funded festival was to reclaim the city’s public spaces for the arts. Early editions, often held in Cubbon Park, offered an inclusive vision of our public spaces as open to all.

Over the years though, October Jam has evolved into something a little different—it’s now a space where artists gather to engage with a different curatorial theme every year, ranging from how we experience time (Anti-Clocks, 2012) to the air we breathe (Hawa, 2018). The festival returns for its 15th iteration this month with conversations, film screenings, workshops, comedy shows and musical performances based on the theme of ‘lightning’.