# Asar - Arts and Culture Engagement at the Emergence Festival, Goa

**URL:** https://grove.rainmatter.org/t/asar-arts-and-culture-engagement-at-the-emergence-festival-goa/5346
**Category:** Rainmatter Partner Updates
**Created:** [November 5, 2026, 7:22am UTC](https://grove.rainmatter.org/t/asar-arts-and-culture-engagement-at-the-emergence-festival-goa/5346 "2026-11-05T07:22:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Nitya](https://grove.rainmatter.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/n/73ab20/32.png) [@Nitya](https://grove.rainmatter.org/u/Nitya)
#### Post date: [November 5, 2026, 7:22am UTC](https://grove.rainmatter.org/t/asar-arts-and-culture-engagement-at-the-emergence-festival-goa/5346/1 "2026-11-05T07:22:54Z")

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### **Arts, Culture and Climate Communications at Emergence Festival, Goa**

As part of **Emergence: Festival of Future Cities** (29–31 October 2026) in Panjim, Asar curated three cultural interventions that explored how arts, creative expression and storytelling can make climate conversations more accessible, relatable and engaging.

**1. The Great Indian Ukada – A SuperHEAT Marathi Musical**

 ![The Great Indian Ukada at Emergence Festival, Goa](https://groveassets.rainmatter.org/original/2X/8/81ad864dada9f83aa99863ce98125f85f1ed43d2.jpeg)

 ![The Great Indian Ukada](https://groveassets.rainmatter.org/original/2X/0/072e0b3b8fec7c18a112322aa955217a05872904.jpeg)

 ![The Great Indian Ukada music troupe](https://groveassets.rainmatter.org/original/2X/0/0b3280e4bf68da1102773f22374816e22cb91425.jpeg)

 ![Audience enjoying the Great Indian Ukada play](https://groveassets.rainmatter.org/original/2X/f/f8c3d3c373861ebca6516d49924976f931a56968.jpeg)

 ![Actor Kalki Koechlin interviews play director Makarand Sawant and producer Kunika Bansode Sawant at the Emergence Festival](https://groveassets.rainmatter.org/original/2X/b/b4f20748f503227958e89d526cf8c96068c3d4e2.jpeg)

Asar, in collaboration with **Vanyavani Foundation** , presented _The Great Indian Ukada_, a Marathi musical that used folk traditions, humour, music and theatre to explore rising temperatures, climate change and human–wildlife interactions. Drawing on traditional art forms such as _lavani_, _bharud_ and _qawwali_, the performance brought scientific and environmental concerns into an engaging cultural format.

The performance was followed by an engaging conversation between actor **Kalki Koechlin** , play director **Makarand Sawant** and producer **Kunika Bansode Sawant** where they discussed their creative journeys, satire as an art form, and the role of creative expression in communicating climate concerns.

**2. Scorched – A Photo Exhibition**

 ![Scorched – A photo exhibition](https://groveassets.rainmatter.org/original/2X/f/fc5d57f34bca07dc0c57d9c3f975ebce0fca30d9.jpeg)

 ![Scorched – A photo exhibition](https://groveassets.rainmatter.org/original/2X/7/7908d8140288bd68d1c050b2fcb666d66f95f413.jpeg)

Photographer **Ishan Tankha’s** _Scorched_ presented a visual exploration of extreme heat and its impact on people’s bodies, homes and livelihoods across Indian geographies. Featuring photographs from Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Punjab and Delhi, the exhibition invited audiences to engage with heat not merely as a climatic statistic, but as a lived, everyday experience.

The exhibition was accompanied by stories and literary reflections by journalist **Aruna Chandrasekhar**. Together, Ishan and Aruna have embarked on a storytelling initiative, as part of Asar’s broader heat narrative-building effort, to document and communicate the human experiences and impacts of extreme heat.

**3. Mixer: City Climate Stories**

 ![Climate Mixer in Dolally, Goa](https://groveassets.rainmatter.org/original/2X/7/75b79454cbae01ac9d680674b47ad8a0086e4b8d.jpeg)

 ![Artists and creative storytellers perform at the Climate Mixer](https://groveassets.rainmatter.org/original/2X/e/ea4e19ab264e463bc63bcdf82402df78006259f2.jpeg)

 ![Climate Mixer](https://groveassets.rainmatter.org/original/2X/d/d7cffaf4d9df6cb25ddb2e9fb9ed594edb0fce1f.jpeg)

 ![Climate Mixer](https://groveassets.rainmatter.org/original/2X/f/f55fca2c05900c239815762c7c7b8f7387f6beea.jpeg)

Hosted in collaboration with Doolally, Goa, the **Climate Mixer** brought together people working across climate, cities, arts and communications. Through an informal evening of poetry, music, storytelling and networking, it created space for exchanges, new connections and potential collaborations beyond conventional conference formats.