We are thrilled that CASP joined as a collaborator at the 9th edition of the Mindscape Festival, where we co-hosted a lively conversation on the evolution of the Govandi Arts Festival, a community-led arts and culture movement that reclaims, transforms, and celebrates the socio-spatial narratives of marginalized neighbourhoods in Govandi, located within the M East Ward, Mumbai.
Govandi is home to Mumbai’s largest resettled population, and the festival highlights the spirit and resilience of local residents through performative and visual arts. Situated in Natwar Parekh Colony, a public housing neighbourhood, the festival amplifies lived experiences, particularly those of women, and foregrounds youth leadership and cultural expression.
Hosted by the Community Design Agency and co-founded by an artist-architect-social worker trio, the festival transforms a shared vision into collective action through deep community collaboration. Parveen Shaikh, a Govandi resident and the festival’s Community Lead and Organiser, brings over 20 years of experience advocating for slum dwellers and serves as a vital bridge between residents and the collective’s aspirations. Natasha Sharma, who has worked in Govandi for over seven years, serves as Creative Director and Curator, blending participatory research, public art, and design to support communities in shaping their own narratives. In this panel, the co-founders demonstrated that cities are shaped not only by roads and buildings, but by collective imagination, care, and the participation of communities most impacted by urban inequities. They positioned art and creative expression as essential infrastructure for care, identity, and collective agency in city-making.
This panel was a collaboration with the Mindscape Festival, an inter-disciplinary ideas and arts festival anchored around a set of talks, performances, screenings, workshops and exhibitions. Navi Mumbai, a city with a unique history and character is the host city of the festival. In its 9th edition, the festival is organised by X-Pican, the alumni association of Pillai College of Architecture with support from the Pillai Group of Institutions. Held at the ampitheatre of the Rock Garden in Nerul, this conversation on the Govandi Arts Festival explored how arts-led practices strengthen social bonds, activate public spaces, and reimagine urban futures.
