A performing arts space in Kochi is trying something new this September: handing over the reins of an entire festival to an outside, women-run collective and backing them fully to make it happen.

Katha Konfluence runs from September 12 to 27 at AAL Studio in Kochi, Kerala. It brings together workshops, retreats, and performances, all curated by Kala Forum, a women-run collective. This is the first project under AAL Studio's new Curatorial Collective, an initiative where AAL gives its space, budget, and support to outside groups so they can lead their own programming, rather than AAL producing everything itself.

A small festival with a big idea

Katha Konfluence is not trying to be huge. It is built around smaller community spaces and independent artists instead of one big institution, and organisers say that is the whole point.

A festival at this scale means more paid work for the artists who are teaching and performing, room for new work to be created, and a stage for performers who do not usually get one.

The curator behind the programme is Greeshma Narendran of Kala Forum. Because Kala Forum is leading the whole festival, the balance of who teaches and performs, largely women, comes from the ground up rather than being added on afterward.

What's happening

The festival is split into workshops and retreats, plus ticketed performances.

Workshops and retreats:

September 12 to 13: A two-day retreat for women, by women, covering yoga with Alaka Shaji, journaling with Aswathy Mittaayi, hula hoop with Nilaamalar, and theatre with Garggi Ananthan

September 14 to 18: An introduction to Kalaripayattu, the traditional martial art, taught by Hybrid Kalari

September 21 to 25: A five-day immersive yoga workshop with Shivaani Shashi

September 24 to 26: A contemporary dance workshop with Snigdha Prabhakar

Performances:

September 19, 7 pm: A storytelling performance by Ajay Udayan and Gopu Sadanandan (₹250)

September 20, 7 pm: A folk music performance by Aparna Raj and Mini Kanavu (₹250)

September 26, 10:30 am: "Build," a theatre performance made for toddlers, by Krisha Kurup and Sidharth Varma (₹300 for one toddler and one parent or caregiver, ₹250 per extra ticket)

September 27, 7 pm: "Solo 1.2.3," a closing night of dance solos by Ramya Suvi, Ranju Ramachandran, and Snigdha Prabhakar (₹350)

AAL Studio was founded by Alaka PS as a performing arts space in Kochi supporting theatre, dance, and live performance, and it also offers free administrative support to independent artists. With the Curatorial Collective, AAL is extending that same support outward, letting other collectives use its space and budget to run their own programming, with AAL staying involved as an active partner rather than stepping back once the keys are handed over.

Kala Forum is the first collective to take up that offer, and organisers see Katha Konfluence as an early test of what that kind of partnership can look like: genuine curatorial control given to an outside group, but with full backing behind them.

Media contact: Alaka PS, Founder, AAL Studio — alakaps96@gmail.com