BLR Hubba 2024 preview: Bengaluru’s grand celebration of art and culture returns

BLR Hubba 2024 brings 500-plus events to Bengaluru, transforming streets and parks into cultural hubs with art, music, theatre, and more

Last year, the inaugural Unboxing BLR Hubba set out to establish Bengaluru as a cultural hotspot, drawing inspiration from the iconic Edinburgh Fringe Festival. With over 300 events scattered across the city, it hinted at the city’s potential to host a world-class cultural celebration. For V Ravichandar, the festival’s chief facilitator however, this was just the beginning.

“I would say we are decades away from reaching the scale of the Fringe,” he says. “Edinburgh transforms into a festival hub, hosting over 2,000 daily events across 600 venues. Our challenges as a city are different — potholes, water, and garbage — but our goal is similar: to position Bengaluru as a city worth celebrating on the world map.”

This year, BLR Hubba returns from 30 November to 15 December with a bold new vision, offering more curated programming, a wider array of venues, and a commitment to inclusivity.

One of the highlights this year is the Church Street Beautification Project, which will transform the popular promenade into a cultural corridor for the festival. The street will host pop-up performances, installations, and interactive art displays.

Another addition to the Hubba’s repertoire is GodeBLR, wherein 10 talented artists and artists groups transform eight pre-identified walls of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) stations and two prominent private walls into murals across the city.

The UnboxingBLR Foundation, which anchors the BLR Hubba, has also been organising free-to-attend art and culture events under the Hubba In Your Park initiative for the last few weekends across the city’s public parks.

These street-level initiatives encapsulate the essence of the Hubba: a celebration of the city’s unique character. “Think of the Hubba as showcasing the best of Bengaluru — whether it’s technology, design, literature, music, dance, or heritage. It’s the good news in a city often mired in bad news,” says Ravichandar.