The Dehati Foundation seeks support for a rural arts festival in Madhya Pradesh

The Dehati Foundation is seeking public support through its own campaign page for The Dehati Fest, a planned rural arts festival beginning with Sehore and the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh. The initiative aims to bring live music, poetry, theatre and storytelling closer to villages, while creating opportunities for local talent and a shared gathering for rural and urban communities.

The campaign starts with a simple idea: a child should be able to discover a live performance without first having to travel to a city. Through crowdfunding, the Foundation is inviting people who believe in that idea to help turn it into a festival. This is an organiser’s campaign update about an initiative in planning, not a report of an event that has already taken place.

Why villages need a stage

The purpose is not to suggest that villages lack culture. They have their own music, stories, traditions and creative voices. The question is how to create more opportunities for people to experience different live art forms close to home, and for artists from these communities to share their work with others.

For families with limited opportunities to attend a concert or theatre performance nearby, distance can shape what feels accessible. The Dehati Fest is being planned around rural audiences rather than asking them to make the journey to an urban venue. Its ambition is a thoughtfully produced cultural gathering that makes room for farmers, families, young people, children and artists.

A first encounter can open a door

A live instrument, a poem spoken aloud or a story performed on stage can introduce a child to something unfamiliar. The planned festival would offer encounters with music, poetry, theatre and storytelling, allowing children and young people to listen, watch, ask questions and explore what interests them.

The aim is to make space for curiosity, not to promise a particular outcome for every child. An early encounter with an art form may become a lasting interest, an incentive to learn a skill or simply a meaningful shared memory. Before any of those possibilities, there needs to be a chance to experience the art itself.

A stage for talent close to home

Local artists are central to the idea. Singers, musicians, poets, folk performers and storytellers should have opportunities to be heard in the places where their work begins. The Foundation’s plans include a talent-discovery initiative to help identify emerging performers from the region and introduce their work to audiences.

The hope is to create opportunities for local performers to reach new listeners and, where possible, share a stage with established artists. This remains a planned direction, not an announcement of a confirmed line-up. Artists interested in the initiative can contact the Foundation to introduce their practice and explore a conversation about participation.

A meeting place for villages and cities

The Dehati Fest is not intended to be exclusively for either rural or urban audiences. The campaign describes a gathering where people from villages and cities can spend time together through performances, stories and conversation. People who have moved away for education or work may find a reason to reconnect with the communities they came from.

That connection also works in the other direction: rural audiences can encounter unfamiliar art forms, while visitors can listen to local creative voices. A shared stage is an invitation to exchange, rather than a claim that one community has all the culture and another has none. The value lies in meeting, listening and making room for different experiences.

Why the campaign is community-funded

In its campaign, the Foundation explains that its search for sponsorship often met the suggestion that the event should move to a city. Reaching rural communities is the reason for the initiative, so crowdfunding offers another route: support from people who want a village stage to become possible.

Contributions will help the Foundation work towards artists and performances, equipment, production and talent discovery for rural audiences. The longer-term hope is a recurring platform for culture and connection, beginning with this planned festival. The Foundation’s campaign page provides the full story, verified direct-donation totals and a way to contribute through its existing Cashfree checkout.

Two ways to be part of it

For supporters: read the fundraiser and consider a contribution on the Foundation website. Sharing the campaign with someone who cares about arts access is another way to help others discover the initiative.

For artists, journalists and potential partners: contact the Foundation with an introduction and the kind of involvement you would like to explore. Enquiries are welcome; contacting the team does not imply a confirmed festival role or partnership.