KOCHI: Kochi is preparing to paint a bigger, bolder picture of itself. The city corporation has set its sights on transforming Kochi into a global ‘City of Creativity’, with plans to host an International Kerala Art, Design, Craft and Cultural Conclave next year and to bring artists and creative minds from across the world into the city’s public spaces.
On Saturday, corporation officials, including Mayor Minimol V K, are expected to sit down with acclaimed artist and Kochi Biennale Foundation founder-president Bose Krishnamachari to discuss the conclave and draw up an implementation plan.
“I’m totally involved in taking the project ahead. I have been meeting artists and working on a plan for its implementation,” Bose told TNIE.
He said the Saturday meeting would focus on taking the project forward.
Bose was appointed Kochi corporation’s Art, Design and Culture Curator after the UDF came to power — the first such appointment by a civic body in the country. The corporation hopes to leverage his international standing, experience, and creative vision to give a new cultural identity to the city. The conclave, conceived as a key component of that vision, will bring together painters, designers, cultural practitioners, and other creative professionals from India and abroad.
The plan is to invite artists from different countries, open up city spaces for artistic interventions, and provide platforms for them to create and exhibit their works, Minimol told TNIE. “It will not only boost art and cultural activities in the city but also transform Kochi into a creative city in the true sense,” she said.
Bose, who had shared his dream of transforming Kochi into a ‘City of Creativity’ when he took charge as curator, said the conclave would provide an opportunity for creative minds from across the globe to converge in Kochi.
The corporation has already earmarked Rs 2 crore in its 2026-27 budget for initiatives aimed at transforming Kochi into a ‘City of Visual Art and Culture’. The proposed international conclave is being planned as an extension of this initiative.
Rather than making the conclave another annual event, Kochi corporation wants to build it into a larger platform for sustained creative engagement, wider participation, and meaningful exchanges that can leave a lasting imprint on the city.
Projects such as ‘Kochi Art Corridor’ and ‘Cultural City’, linking heritage neighbourhoods have also found a place in the corporation’s plans. For now, however, the focus is firmly on the conclave which is an attempt to bring global talent to Kochi, officials added.