About
To facilitate pluralistic cultural expression across South Asia and to support practice, research and education in the arts.
The Serendipity Arts Foundation is a not-for-profit arts and cultural development foundation, founded in 2014 by Sunil Kant Munjal. Its flagship is the Serendipity Arts Festival in Panaji, Goa - India's largest multidisciplinary arts festival, free to the public - supported by a year-round programme of grants, residencies, public art and research that makes the Foundation a producer and ecosystem-builder rather than only a presenter.
From its first edition in 2016, the Serendipity Arts Festival grew into India's largest interdisciplinary arts event, spanning visual arts, music, dance, theatre, craft, culinary arts and photography across multiple venues in Panaji, Goa. Its tenth edition (December 2025) fielded its largest-ever line-up of 35-plus curators and extended its reach with activations in around ten Indian cities and international mini-editions in Birmingham and Dubai.
Around the festival the Foundation has built a substantial ecosystem layer: a growing portfolio of grants (Enduring Traditions, Folk Arts, Production Grant for Independent Musicians, Arts Journalism, Craft & Design, and the Serendipity Arles Grant for lens-based practice); the three-month Serendipity Arts Residency in Delhi; the Music Mapping Project documenting musicians' practices across India; and the Text/Matters arts library.
Visit & Access
The flagship festival is free and open to the public across multiple venues in Panaji, Goa, each December.
Founding & Leadership
Sunil Kant Munjal, a leading industrialist of the Hero Group / Hero Enterprise, founded the Serendipity Arts Foundation in 2014 under the Serendipity Arts Munjal Initiative for Creativity. A committed arts patron - 'the arts need as much attention as the economy' - he conceived the festival as a place where visual arts, music, dance, theatre, craft, culinary arts and photography could meet in a single, welcoming, free-to-access platform.
A not-for-profit foundation led by a Director (Smriti Rajgarhia) under Founder-Patron Sunil Kant Munjal.
Leadership & Trustees
Initiatives & Portfolio
India's largest multidisciplinary arts festival, held in Panaji, Goa, with free public access across seven-plus disciplines; reached its 10th edition in December 2025.
Enduring Traditions, Folk Arts, Production Grant for Independent Musicians, Arts Journalism, Craft & Design/Architecture, and the Serendipity Arles Grant (with Rencontres d'Arles & IFI).
A three-month immersive residency for emerging practitioners at the Foundation's Defence Colony space, with an Open Studio showcase; plus the RCA x SAF Senior Artist Residency with the Royal College of Art, London.
A data-collection project documenting musicians' practices across India.
Year-round programming across ~10 Indian cities and international mini-editions (Birmingham, Dubai).
An arts library and public programming including Delhi Art Week and public-art commissions.
Cultural Funding
Cultural verticals
Impact & Metrics
Partnerships & Network
Partner institutions
Government partners
Funders & patrons
RCA x SAF Senior Artist Residency; Serendipity Arles Grant; City As Stage (British Council); SAF x Asia TOPA.
Credentials & Compliance
CSR-eligible · Schedule VII(v) - art & culture
A well-resourced not-for-profit foundation with a transparent public programme and named institutional partners. Specific 80G/12A/FCRA particulars are [Data Not Publicly Available]. Funding is concentrated in a single founding patron, which is a stability strength today but a continuity question for the long term.
Privately patronised by Sunil Kant Munjal; aligns with CSR Schedule VII(v) (promotion of art & culture) and partners with international cultural institutions.
Recognition
The Serendipity Arts Festival is widely described as India's / South Asia's largest multidisciplinary arts festival.
[Atlas Assessment] In a single decade Serendipity Arts has become India's most ambitious multidisciplinary arts platform - and, crucially, more than a festival. Its grants, residencies and research arms make it an active builder of the South Asian arts ecosystem, supporting emerging and mid-career practitioners across forms that rarely share a stage, from culinary arts to lens-based practice. Its free-access model and interdisciplinary breadth distinguish it from both commercial festival producers and single-discipline institutions.
Serendipity scores highly on innovation and ecosystem influence: the interdisciplinary model is genuinely distinctive, and the grants-and-residencies architecture means it funds and develops practitioners rather than only presenting them. Reach is strong and growing (free festival, multi-city, international editions). The main caveats are youth (a decade of legacy, not generations) and concentration in a single founding patron - a strength for stability now but the central continuity question for the future.