BENGALURU: Amidst talk of climate change and different eco hazards that the world is facing, Bengalureans can experience the 16th edition of the Bhoomi Habba, an Earth Festival. Hosted at the campus of Visthar, a city-based non-profit that rehabilitates children, this year’s Habba focuses on the pressing water crisis affecting Bengaluru. “Bengaluru’s water crisis is our thematic focus because we had a very bad summer; we will have workshops, conversations, and performances themed around water conservation, recharging,” says Mercy Kappen, executive director, Visthar.
This festival will include a list of festival activities – folk dance by the Timbaktu Theatre Troupe, a djembe live performance by an Indian folk band, an eco film screening, theatre plays, community painting sessions, traditional games, cartooning, Warli drawings, handmade papermaking, soil exhibition, and art exhibitions. “Besides the artistic expressions, we have also planned a series of panel discussions and conversations with people who are practitioners and those who have been vocal about climate change,” she mentions.
The date also happens to be in time with World Environment Day which was on June 5. Sixteen years since the inaugural edition, Kappen says that the festival has opened up conversations about environmental disasters that the world has been facing. “It has been playing a very important role because we use various forms of communication and demonstrations to convey the message. If we had chosen a theoretical way, it would not have had the sort of impact it has had,” she says.