Spoken Fest, produced by Mumbai-based culture collective Kommune, has secured dedicated funding under the Australian Government’s Maitri Grant Program as part of a landmark Australia–India cultural exchange initiative that will create new opportunities for Indian artists to perform, collaborate and tour internationally.
The two-year initiative, Spoken Without Borders, is a $200,000 partnership between Spoken Fest and Adelaide Fringe, supported by the Centre for Australia-India Relations (CAIR). As part of the collaboration, Kommune has been awarded a dedicated AUD $100,000 fund to strengthen creative exchange between India and Australia across 2027 and 2028.
The partnership will see Indian artists and bilingual Hindi-English productions showcased at Adelaide Fringe, while Australian artists will perform at Spoken Fest Mumbai. It will also facilitate industry exchanges through Adelaide Fringe’s Honey Pot international arts marketplace, artist development initiatives and reciprocal audience-building campaigns across both countries.
For Indian independent artists, the initiative offers access to one of the world’s most significant open-access arts festivals, where thousands of artists perform annually and international presenters actively seek productions for future touring opportunities.
Kommune will also launch an India-focused artist discovery process, combining its live Pitch Fest model with Adelaide Fringe’s Expression of Interest platform. Details of the application process for Indian artists will be announced separately.
The collaboration is the result of a relationship built through Adelaide Fringe’s Honey Pot marketplace, where Kommune Director Tess Joseph participated in 2025. That engagement led to the creation of We Belong, a cross-cultural poetry, music and visual arts performance bringing Dalit and First Nations voices into dialogue around land, language, caste, colonial history, erasure, reclamation and belonging. The production premiered at Adelaide Fringe in March 2026 and received the festival’s Award for Excellence in Poetry.
The announcement follows the Third Australia–India Annual Summit Joint Statement published by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, which noted that “people are at the heart of the partnership” and welcomed “$10 million for the Centre for Australia-India Relations’ Maitri grants to deepen economic collaboration and people-to-people links.”
Under the partnership, Kommune’s dedicated funding will support Indian artists in developing new work while connecting them with Australia’s touring circuit and Fringe festival network.
Mumbai-based Director of Kommune, Tess Joseph, said: “In 2025, I went to Honey Pot with a notebook, curiosity and came home with the beginnings of a show and a dream to build a partnership across borders. In 2026, the show I imagined came to be because of an Adelaide Fringe grant and won an award. Now, in 2027 and 2028, we have the chance to open that door much wider. Spoken Without Borders is about Indian artists arriving in all their complexity, language, humour, politics and imagination, while Australian artists enter a real and living relationship with audiences and collaborators here in India. Let’s build the largest listening party across India and Australia!”
Centre for Australia-India Relations CEO Ryan Neelam said: “By supporting initiatives across technology, business, education and cultural sectors, we’re not just strengthening diplomatic ties, we’re building the foundations for partnerships that create real, lasting benefits for people in both countries.”
He added: “People-to-people connections are at the heart of what makes this relationship endure. Maitri celebrates the shared stories, ideas and creative exchange that bring Australia and India closer together.”
Adelaide Fringe Executive Director Programs and Development Jo O’Callaghan said: “We’ve seen Adelaide Fringe audiences respond with amazing positivity to Indian-themed works in recent years. This partnership presents an incredible opportunity for Adelaide Fringe, and for the artists, producers and programmers who use Fringe as a launchpad to access the rest of the world. India has one of the world’s most exciting storytelling cultures, and this project creates a practical bridge between artists and audiences in both countries.”
She added: “Through Honey Pot we have grown our partnership with Kommune, and we will continue to strengthen touring pathways for independent artists and companies, build new creative relationships and bring more Indian artists and audiences into the Adelaide Fringe program.”
Spoken Fest, recognised as Asia’s largest spoken word festival, has also earned industry recognition at the WOW Awards Asia 2026, where Spoken Evening events in Lucknow and Indore received Gold in the Festival of the Year – Art/Culture/Lifestyle (under 10,000 attendees) category, while Spoken Fest Mumbai 2026 won Silver in the Festival of the Year – Art/Culture/Lifestyle (above 10,000 attendees) category.
Adelaide Fringe, Australia’s largest arts festival and the world’s second-largest annual arts festival after the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, will host Indian artists as part of the initiative. Its Honey Pot international arts marketplace has played a key role in expanding Kommune’s engagement with Australia’s creative sector.
Spoken Without Borders is supported by the Australian Government through the Centre for Australia-India Relations.
Adelaide Fringe 2027 will be held from 19 February to 21 March 2027, with tickets going on sale from 4 December 2026.
