CultureCon Returns To Mumbai For Its Fourth Edition At The NCPA

CultureCon 2026 will be held in collaboration with the National Center for the Performing Arts (NCPA) on August 6-7 and will bring together creative leaders from across India for two days of learning, innovation and networking

Art CultureCon is an organized platform where India’s creative industry brings together artists, designers, writers, filmmakers and creative entrepreneurs. The two-day event brings together the creative industry in one place to build innovative partnerships, engage in intense discussions and develop innovative ideas. The fourth edition will continue the legacy of previous editions and strengthen its position as India’s leading conference connecting ideas, people and possibilities.

CultureCon, which started in 2020 as a conference co-founded by Art X Company and Godrej India Culture Lab, laid the foundation for a conversation examining the structure of India’s cultural sector. Over three editions (2024, 2025) this conversation evolved. Following the 2025 edition, which focused on building creative futures, policies and careers, this year the framework expands to include the creative economy – the culture, capital, business and careers that hold the sector together.

CultureCon will showcase the future of creative work for two days. It will bring together a cross-sector gathering of people at the forefront of India’s creativity boom, shaping careers, driving change and imagining a new future. Through its programming, it deliberately builds bridges across silos and genres, rather than serving one industry at a time.

This year’s program takes a critical look at the systems and infrastructure on which creative careers actually operate. Through talks, masterclasses and discussions, the 2026 edition will delve deeper into how careers are built, how jobs are commissioned and how capital moves across the industry. Below are some of the important sessions:

Yeh Orange Economy Kya Hai Bhai: A keynote address by Sanjoy Roy (Managing Director, Teamwork Arts Private Limited) will reveal what India’s new policy on the creative economy really means for the people who build it.

Skilling for the Creative Economy: What India Did Right, What It Still Does Wrong: Another keynote speech will be given by Ashish Kulkarni (Founding Director, Indian Institute of Creative Technologies). He has spent three decades building the institutional scaffolding that India’s creative economy is still largely lacking. During his keynote address, he will examine how the 10 million livelihoods in India’s creative economy, which largely occur outside formal education systems, can be formalised.

Great Challenge: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of India’s Creative Economy: CultureCon 2026 brings together on stage Roshan Abbas (Founder, Kommune Arts Pvt Ltd), who founded India’s largest storytelling collective on the premise that no machine can replace the human voice, and Vijay Subramaniam (Founder and Group CEO, Collective Artists Network), who founded an AI cinema studio. The two industry giants, who have spent decades building India’s creative economy, will participate in a moderated discussion on artificial intelligence, creativity and who really owns India’s creative economy.

Creative Skill: Data Intervention on the Creative Education and Skills Gap: Led by Asad Lalljee (CEO, Ambitious Learning and Curator, Royal Opera House), this session will expose the irregularities between the emerging sector and creative skills.

Creating a Music Venue Circuit: Girish ‘Bobby’ Talwar (Founder, Rebellion Management & Entertainment), Shlipi Gupta (Founder & Curatorial Lead, CRUX), Dipti Rao (DGM-Auditorium Operations, Prestige Center for Performing Arts), Rafael Pereira (Managing Partner, Tinnuts), Dev Bhatia (COO, Big Bad Wolf) and Jishnu Dasgupta (Bass Guitarist and Artist Manager, Swarathma). Try to solve the infrastructure problem of building and maintaining concert circuits in Indian cities.

Pricing Your Projects: Himanshu Vaswani (Co-Founder, 4/4 Experiences) will provide a live breakdown of how to price a creative project, from scoping and costing to margins and final bids.

Culture and City: The session, held in partnership with Crisil Limited, will take a deeper look at what it takes to make Mumbai and other Indian cities creatively vibrant. At CultureCon 2026, Suraj Iyengar (Director and Practice Leader-Urban Consulting, Crisil Intelligence) and Bruce Guthrie (Head, Theater & Films, NCPA) will explore the question of what conscious, sustainable investment in creative infrastructure actually looks like.

We Will Shock You (Sustainably): Swarathma became a pioneering figure as the folk rock band powered its entire concert tour with solar power and clean energy. Group member Jishu Dasgupta will enlighten artists, makers and other stakeholders on how his group set up India’s first renewable energy tour and what he learned in the process.

decentralized: Creative Economies Beyond the Metro: A unique reverse presentation will bring together five practitioners from beyond the metro-centric creative economy to ask the room some tough questions it doesn’t have to answer. Varun Chauva (Himachal Pradesh), Banyllashisha Wankhar (Meghalaya), Murup Namgyal (Ladakh), Vohbika Hrahsel (Mizoram) and Grace Lillian Lee (Australia) will get ten minutes each. Not to promote their work, but to ask the audience a question based on what the creative industry is missing. The session is presented in partnership with Royal Enfield Social Mission and the Australian Consulate General Mumbai as international partner.

Other speakers present over the two days include Tess Joseph (Co-Founder, Spoken Fest & Cast Director, Tess Joseph Casting), Rohan Marathe (Lead-Digital Accessibility & Partnerships, Access For All), KV Kanchana (CEO, Indian Cultural Enterprises Network), Geetu Hinduja (Singer & Songwriter, Geetu Unplugged), Pankaj Tak (Founder & Director, Some Good Shows), Meghana (Chairperson). Inclusion, Museum of Art and Photography) and Farzana Cama Balpande (President, BookACchange By BookMyShow Foundation).

CultureCon 2026 Network Mixers: CultureCon 2026 will wrap up with an evening of networking and performances on both days. On August 6, Kommune presents Roshan Abbas’ live performance Don’t Worry, Ho Jayega. It will be an exciting, intimate account of almost a lifetime spent creating experiences in India’s live events industry. On the second day, B-Spot Productions will present Rang Birangi Lavani with three artists who re-imagine the history of folk dance that breaks the shackles of caste, class, gender and desire, while also blending the gripping performance with stories of love, loss and longing and the conversation between homosexuality.

Additional sessions cover legal frameworks for arts accessibility, city building, policy making and creative businesses. There will also be masterclasses designed for networking and mentoring. These sessions are designed to challenge the data and speakers to the room. Each session is designed to provide participants with not just conversations, but also a finding, a commitment, an outcome.

Talking about the latest edition of CultureCon, Rashmi Dhanwani, Conference Director, CultureCon India and Founding Director, Art different perspectives. Because culture cannot exist in isolation, nor should the conversations that shape it.”

Commenting on the first collaboration with CultureCon, NCPA Head of Theater and Films Bruce Guthrie said: “CultureCon is a pivotal gathering because it brings the creative community together to share ideas, learn from each other, and forge new partnerships. At NCPA, we are proud to host the performing arts in India for generations and continue to support the artists, institutions, and ideas that will shape its future. We are delighted to collaborate with an initiative that celebrates the strength of India.” “It encourages even greater collaboration within and across the cultural sector.”

CultureCon is blueprinting India’s creative economy by bringing together change-makers to define the future of the creative industry. The latest edition will shape the future of creative work in India, providing a platform for actionable insights, tangible opportunities and measurable impact for the creative workforce.