Rashmi Dhanwani is the Founder of the Art X Company, a strategic consultancy for the cultural sector in India. With over 15 years of experience across media, non-profits, and the arts, she has worked with leading organisations like NCPA Mumbai, Breakthrough, and the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival. A passionate advocate for cultural development, Rashmi holds a Master’s in Cultural and Creative Industries from King’s College London and has received fellowships from ARThink South Asia, ISPA, and more. She also co-founded Festivals From India, a platform supported by the British Council to showcase and strengthen the country’s vibrant festival ecosystem.
In an exclusive interview with EVENTFAQS Media, Rashmi Dhanwani, shares insights on curating for both grassroots initiatives like The Goa Project and legacy institutions like the NCPA. She discusses structural gaps in India’s cultural sector, the need for stronger public-private collaboration, and the role of content curation in driving meaningful engagement. Rashmi also touches on balancing artistic value with commercial goals, the impact of Festivals From India‘s partnership with the 2025 Adelaide Fringe, and how her journalism background continues to shape her approach to arts programming.
Rashmi Dhanwani will also be joining us as an esteemed speaker at the 5th edition of the Shows of India Conclave. Catch him live on May 22–23, 2025, at The Leela Ambience Convention Hotel, Delhi.
From the grassroots energy of The Goa Project to institution-backed platforms like the NCPA, you’ve navigated both ends of the events spectrum. How do you adapt strategy when curating for community-led initiatives versus legacy cultural institutions?
My journey from The Goa Project to the NCPA has taught me the importance of context in curation. With grassroots initiatives like The Goa Project, the focus is on co-creation and harnessing the collective energy of diverse communities. It’s about facilitating spaces where ideas can emerge organically. It’s about working with teams across India and across different levels of experience, who have diverse domain expertise, and about balancing their ambition with the vision for the event. The Goa Project was a volunteer-led initiative founded to meet a gap; the NCPA is an arts institution with a much longer history. In contrast, working with legacy institutions like the NCPA requires a balance between innovation and tradition, ensuring that programming resonates with established audiences while also attracting new ones. In both scenarios, adaptability and a deep understanding of the audience are key.
What structural gaps do you think still need urgent attention in India’s arts and events ecosystem—and how can the private and public sectors collaborate to fill them?
India’s arts ecosystem faces several challenges: limited funding, lack of infrastructure, and insufficient policy support. There’s a pressing need for comprehensive data to inform decision-making and for policies that recognize the arts as vital to societal well-being. For instance, during the pandemic, we at the Art X Company, in collaboration with the British Council and FICCI, were the only ones to have come out with a public study on the impact of COVID on the creative sector in India (Taking the Temperature). There was no single government study released on the impact. Collaboration between the private and public sectors can bridge these gaps. For instance, CSR initiatives can support arts education and community projects, while government policies can provide tax incentives for arts funding. A unified approach can create a more sustainable and inclusive arts landscape. The post-pandemic period has seen a massive surge in public interest in live events, and rising ticket sales for live events endorse that growth. The big gap here is infrastructure, and regardless of investment made by private companies such as BookMyShow on VerTech stages and advanced turf protection methods for existing all-purpose stadiums/grounds, the fact is that we don’t have exclusive infrastructure for live events, a city ecosystem that allows for easy public movement of large gatherings, and other challenges — as The Ken wrote, going out of India is easier than going out in India.
How does good content curation help turn an event from just a show into something that’s meaningful and sparks real conversations or change?
Effective curation goes beyond selecting performances; it’s about crafting narratives that resonate and provoke thought. The three values that events need to have to be meaningful and spark real conversations or change are: relevance, representation, and quality. Relevance in terms of topicality, representation ensures diverse voices and perspectives are foregrounded, and quality forces the curation team to go beyond the mediocre. For example, incorporating themes like social justice or environmental sustainability can transform an event into a catalyst for change, encouraging attendees to reflect and act beyond the confines of the venue.
How do you negotiate the tension between commercial viability and artistic or social value in event strategy?
Balancing commercial success with artistic integrity is a nuanced endeavor. It’s essential to identify synergies where artistic excellence aligns with audience appeal. This might involve programming that is both thought-provoking and accessible. Engaging with sponsors who share the event’s values can also ensure financial support without compromising the vision. Transparency with stakeholders about objectives and constraints fosters trust and facilitates this balance.
Festivals From India recently partnered with the 2025 Adelaide Fringe Honey Pot Marketplace. How did this help connect India’s festivals with Australia’s arts scene, and what impact did it have?
Our partnership with the Adelaide Fringe’s Honey Pot Marketplace significantly advanced the internationalisation of India’s festival scene. This collaboration offered Indian festival producers crucial exposure to global networks, encouraging cross-cultural exchange and potential partnerships. Beyond showcasing India’s vibrant culture, it facilitated international knowledge sharing, capacity building, and audience development. Over two editions, we successfully supported the participation of leading Indian performing arts organisations and festivals, including representatives from the NCPA Mumbai (Bruce Guthrie), SPOKEN Fest and Kommune (Tess Joseph), Pickle Factory Dance Foundation (Vikram Iyengar), and Nagaland’s Task Force for Music & Arts (Theja Meru).
Bruce Guthrie’s experience at Adelaide Fringe exemplifies the value of this initiative: “Honeypot is a fantastic initiative that made my experience as a professional attending the festival much more pleasurable. It was very easy to connect with artists, network with other arts organisations and get recommendations for shows to watch (from headliners to hidden gems). There is so much for any festival to learn from Adelaide.” His feedback highlights the ease of connecting with artists and organisations, networking opportunities, and the value of recommendations, underscoring the learning potential for any festival.
What’s a lesson from journalism that still shapes how you approach festival curation or arts programming today?
My background in journalism instilled in me the importance of storytelling, structure, and audience engagement. Understanding the audience’s perspective, asking critical questions, and presenting information compellingly are skills that translate seamlessly into curation. It reminds me to prioritise clarity, relevance, and impact in programming.
