10 October 2026 · Bangalore Creative Circus

The Festival of Defiance 2026

This is where the defiants gather.

Register for the dayRegister₹299See the schedule10 AM – 6 PM · ~500 people

Co-created with

Supported by

The day, at a glance

An invitation to help build another world — for one day.

  • Films
  • Exhibitions
  • A Human Library
  • Movement
  • Healing circles
  • Journaling
  • Food, chai and conversations
Seen from above, a busy market on the Bangalore Creative Circus's painted warehouse floor, with stalls and people moving between them.
People sitting in a loose circle on the warehouse floor while a musician plays guitar among them.
The open warehouse floor under a glass roof, ringed with plants, a large sculptural bird hanging overhead.
A lounge beneath a mezzanine: a leather sofa, bookshelves, and the front of an old vehicle mounted on the wall above.
A plant-lined walkway through the warehouse, with repurposed furniture under a steel-and-mesh frame.

Saturday, 10 October 202610 AM – 6 PMBangalore Creative Circus~500 people

Register for the dayRegister₹299See the schedule

The belief we are up against

There isANalternative.

You learn it early. Nobody teaches you this on purpose; you absorb it the way you absorb weather.

“The extractive system survives because it convinces us there is no alternative. The Festival of Defiance makes the alternative impossible to ignore.”

Project DEFY, on turning ten

Most of the systems that quietly wear people down do not survive because anyone loves them. They survive on a single, repetitive idea: that there is no other way.

  1. 01A school takes a child's curiosityand hands back a grade.
  2. 02A job takes a person's hoursand returns a little less than they were worth.
  3. 03A community's farmers, artisans and eldersare treated as the past, never invited to lead.

Such a system does not have to be fair, or kind, or even good.

It only has to make sure that nothing else is visible.

That belief, this is simply how things are, is what the Festival exists to interrupt. Not with a sharper argument, but with a few hours of a different world that a person gets to feel from the inside.

One · the question

What does it
mean to defy?

There is no single kind of defiance.

01 / 05 · what does it mean to defy?

Sometimes it is

personal.

Choosing a life you were not expected to live. Questioning an idea you grew up with. Walking away from a definition of success.

02 / 05 · what does it mean to defy?

Sometimes it is

social.

Challenging the roles, hierarchies and conventions that tell us how we should live with one another.

03 / 05 · what does it mean to defy?

Sometimes it is

political.

Questioning power. Resisting injustice. Imagining different ways of organising our lives and communities.

04 / 05 · what does it mean to defy?

Sometimes it is

ecological.

Finding ways to live, make and grow without treating the natural world as something simply to be used.

05 / 05 · what does it mean to defy?

Sometimes it is

creative.

Making something that did not exist before. Refusing the rules. Finding another language.

And sometimes it is simply the quiet decision to say:

I don’t think it has to be this way.

Two · everywhere

The world is
full of defiants.

Everywhere, people are questioning the assumptions we have inherited.

  • Creating new ways to learn.
  • Building different livelihoods.
  • Reimagining communities.
  • Growing and making differently.
  • Protecting what matters.
  • Growing and making differently.
  • Protecting what matters.
  • Creating new forms of art and culture.
  • Experimenting with ways of living that do not follow the usual script.

They aren’t just talking about another world.They’re trying to build one.

Come meet them.

Not as experts on a stage. As people who have already begun to make something real, and who are still figuring out the rest of it.

We are not inviting you to consume an event.It isn’t about consumption — it’s about connection.

Why a day works when a lecture doesn’t

Almost no one changes their mind because they were handed better information.

Information was never the missing piece.

What actually moves a person is standing, even briefly, inside a different set of conditions and noticing their own reaction to it.

Experience moves first;belief follows it home.

Three · the six conditions of the day

A journey,
not a schedule.

The day is built as a journey rather than a schedule. A person can enter anywhere and wander between them in any order, picking up each one along the way.

the centre

Curiosity

The first crack of not-knowing that makes everything else possible.

Question the assumptions people carry, and turn them over in your hands.

question · inquire · unsettle

e.g. a debate · a myth-busting circle · an open inquiry

Anchored by

Socratus

Socratus is a studio for thinking through and solving wicked problems — bringing the right people together in carefully designed spaces, and making tools to imagine, think and solve.

Woven through every space are the living threads: music, movement, ritual and play, carried by weavers who belong to no single room.

Four · the day

Not a conference to attend.A world to inhabit.

This isn’t a conference. There is no head table. No single stage. No audience sitting quietly while someone tells you what to think.

Picture arriving a little before noon.

  1. 01 / 09The passage

    The passage of community work

    You come in not to a registration counter and a lanyard, but down a short passage lined with the work of communities. Jewellery, clay, repurposed everyday things, small strange beautiful objects. Before anyone has said a word, they tell you this will not be an ordinary event.

  2. 02 / 09Handprints

    The handprint wall

    Before you go any further, you dip your hands in paint and press them to a wall. From that moment you are already a participant, not an audience.

  3. 03 / 09The circle

    The circle at the heart

    A low, round stage with people gathered all the way around it, and a conversation or a performance turning at its centre — like a live, in-person podcast. No podium. No head table. No back row.

  4. 04 / 09Making tables

    The making tables

    People are building something, breaking it, building it better. Throwing clay. Playing instruments none of them could play an hour ago. Nobody is watching a demonstration; everybody has their hands in it.

  5. 05 / 09“I am not…”

    The “I am not…” wall

    On one wall, strangers are writing down what they are not. “I am not my job.” “I am not my fear.” Beside it, another wall: the people and communities who are quietly living the alternative already.

  6. 06 / 09Tea, strangers

    A cup of tea from a stranger

    Somewhere a stranger presses a cup of tea into your hands, and for a few minutes you and two people you have never met are simply talking.

  7. 07 / 09Quiet corners

    Corners to go quiet in

    There are corners to go quiet in. Nothing here asks you to perform. You can sit out, sit down, sit with it.

  8. 08 / 09Games

    Games of belonging

    Games that ask which version of yourself you would like to belong to. You answer with your feet, not a form.

  9. 09 / 09Music

    Music moving through all of it

    Music that moves through everything rather than sitting on a stage. It arrives where you are, and then it leaves, and takes some of the room with it.

Nothing asks you to perform. You choose your own path through the day, and slowly, almost without noticing, the day does its quiet work on you.

A day to wander through

You choose where you go.

  • You might arrive for one thing and spend the afternoon somewhere completely unexpected.
  • You might meet someone whose work changes how you see a problem.
  • You might try something you have never done.
  • You might simply find a room full of people who understand why you couldn’t quite accept the status quo.
  • Conversations
  • Making
  • Music
  • Movement
  • Films
  • Exhibitions
  • Experiments
  • Stories
  • Food
  • Play
  • Quiet corners

Five · at the door

Bring your defiance.

Come as you are.

Leave behind

  • The title, at the door.
  • The organisation, for a day.

Hello, my title is

Your organisation, here

Bring with you 0 of 4 packed

Bring your defiance into the room.

This is your place to meet other defiants.

  • People who have defied.
  • People who are defying.
  • People who want to.

Different lives. Different questions. Different worlds. One gathering.

Come find your people.Register.
When
Saturday, 10 October 2026
Hours
10 AM – 6 PM
Where
Bangalore Creative Circus
Who
~500 people
Entry
₹299

Co-created with

Supported by

The day, hour by hour

Schedule

Pick your sessions

Five Tracks, One Joy

With five tracks running at once, no one can catch everything — and that’s by design, not a flaw. We call it JOMO: the Joy of Missing Out. Follow what you’re curious about, trust that every track leads somewhere worthwhile, and catch the rest of the story later from a fellow traveler in the Chit-Chat Corner.

  1. 10 AM – 11 AMAll together

    Opening Circle

    • The Festival BeginsProject DEFYA short welcome marking the start of the Festival of Defiance, bringing everyone together to open the day as one.
    • Instruments of the NowSwaroop ShettyA 15-minute fire and LED flow performance, where light, rhythm, and movement take over the space.
    • Join the CircleDUPA joyful, participatory circle of chants, music, and synchronised movement. No experience needed, just show up and join in.
  2. 11 AM – 12:30 PMFive at once — pick one · 30 seats each · first come, first served
    • CuriosityMultispecies Around Us: Who Else Do We Share the World With?Step outside the human-only lens for a while. Get curious about the animals, trees, insects, birds, air, water, and sky we share our city and world with, and notice them as fellow residents, rather than just background.with Socratus
    • Evidence & Lived ExperienceBeyond Resilience: The System Is How We See ItWe often look for broken systems elsewhere. This session brings the lens closer, to how we see and relate to the stranger in front of us. Sit with a little discomfort and leave with one shift you’re ready to make.with Dream a Dream
    • TastingEncounters with Sound — 1A beginner-friendly journey through the evolution of sound. Explore everyday materials, experiment like inventors, and discover how drums, strings, and wind instruments came to be. Learn the basics of sound and build your own instrument from scrap. Come tinker, get curious, and get noisy!with Baithak Foundation
    • BelongingAction Taking as Inner GameAn experiment through archetypes to understand what drives the choices we make — action and inaction both. What happens when we understand how the choices form within us? What needs to stay or change then?with Sauramandala Foundation
    • ImaginationFrom Vikalp to Vision: A Card Game for Alternative FuturesWe’re often taught to imagine small. This session turns an alternatives-mapping framework into a card game where you can imagine boldly for yourself, your organisation, or Bangalore, then bring those ideas to life on a shared canvas. No expertise needed, just a willingness to wonder.with Travellers University
  3. 12:30 PM – 1:30 PMAll together

    Break

    • Tell It, Watch ItThreads and Tales (Lahe Lahe Caravan)A live story performance.
    • Rolling Rebelsthe kids of Proto VillageA skating performance, bringing energy and motion.
  4. 1:30 PM – 3 PMFive at once — pick one · 30 seats each · first come, first served
    • CuriosityJoy of Life: A Healthcare Clowning ExperienceA playful space to be vulnerable, silly, and completely yourself. Through games, imagination, and the gentle art of clowning, reconnect with the joy and freedom of your inner child. Come ready to move, laugh, play, and connect — comfortable clothes recommended!with Dr Parrots
    • Evidence & Lived ExperienceDefiants in Conversation: Story SharingA conversation with people who chose to build differently: spaces, collectives, and movements that refused the default path. Moderated by Nagakarthik MP (Sauramandala Foundation), with Mansee Shah (Lahe Lahe Caravan), Kalyan Akkipeddi (Proto Village), Ashik Krishnan (Travellers University), and Divya Narayanan (Canopy Commons), exploring what defiance looks like in practice.with Sauramandala Foundation
    • TastingThe Repair Cafe: Give Old Clothes a Second LifeRepair as an act of defiance in a fast-consumption world. Learn simple repair and mending techniques to make your clothes last longer, and swap “buy new” for “fix what you have.” Bring your old and well-loved clothes!with Eco-Dhaga
    • BelongingRiver of LifeEvery life moves like a river, through calm stretches, sudden bends, and occasional floods. In this intimate session, map your own journey, name the currents and obstacles that shaped it, and reflect on where the river might carry you next.with MAD
    • ImaginationThere Is an Alternative: A Human Library of Lived JourneysYou’ve been told there’s no alternative. This is a human library where, instead of borrowing a book, you sit down with someone already living and working differently, and simply ask. No panels, no podiums, just a real conversation that might change how you see what’s possible.with Travellers University
  5. 3 PM – 3:30 PMAll together

    Break

    • When I Grow Up, I Want to Be a RapperSmokey The Ghost, with Kali and Pasha BhaiA conversation with Bangalore’s rappers on speaking truth through rhyme, followed by a live performance.
  6. 3:30 PM – 5 PMFive at once — pick one · 30 seats each · first come, first served
    • CuriosityThere’s More to the Story: The Questions We Don’t Usually AskWhat happens when you get genuinely curious about a stranger in the room? Through unexpected questions and shared stories, explore the experiences, choices, disagreements, and quiet moments that shape who we are, and discover who’s sitting next to you.with Socratus
    • Evidence & Lived ExperienceRedefining SuccessWe’re often taught to hide, explain, or rush past failure. This session brings that reflex into the room, playfully, and asks what it might be costing us. Leave with a more honest idea of what success could mean in your work.with Dream a Dream
    • TastingEncounters with Sound — 2A beginner-friendly journey through the evolution of sound. Explore everyday materials, experiment like inventors, and discover how drums, strings, and wind instruments came to be. Learn the basics of sound and build your own instrument from scrap. Come tinker, get curious, and get noisy!with Baithak Foundation
    • BelongingSunset LettersStep into a room of mango bite toffees, inland letters, and small relics of childhood. Let them take you back, reflect on your own memories, and write a letter to someone you love or to yourself, carried by memory.with MAD
    • ImaginationLearning on the Move: Travel, Alivelihoods and a Pedagogy of PossibilitiesWhat if education were designed for aliveness, not just economic interest? Explore travel as a tool for real learning and the livelihoods that can grow from it. The session closes with everyone sketching a pedagogy for a world they actually want to live in.with Travellers University
  7. 5 PM – 6 PMAll together

    Closing Circle

    • Coming Full CircleDUP
    • A performanceBaithak Foundation

All day · walk in · no sign-up

Beyond the Schedule

The Festival of Defiance runs five parallel tracks of sessions and workshops through the day — but the day holds more than a schedule. Scattered around the venue are a few spaces with no sign-up sheet: places built for pausing, reflecting, and meeting people outside of a session room. Here’s what else lives at the festival.

  • The Healing Roomwith Vinay, Usha & GurkaranA drop-in space for breathwork, guided meditation, sound healing, and simple relaxation practices, running through the day. No experience needed — step in for five quiet minutes between sessions, or stay longer for a guided journey.
  • The Journaling CornerA quiet corner for putting things down on paper — a memory, a reflection on your own story, or a letter to someone you love. Drop in anytime through the day; there’s no right way to use it.
  • The Chit-Chat CornerAn easy, unscheduled hangout spot to meet other people at the festival — pull up a chair, strike up a conversation, make a new friend. Through the day, it’s also where you might find yourself chatting with some of the movement’s own elders and long-time friends of Project DEFY, dropping by informally rather than on a panel.

In the Healing Room

  • 11:30 – 12:00Opening + IntroductionsFor early arrivals: a quick orientation to what’s on offer through the day, so you can plan your visits.
  • 12:00 – 12:30Morning SessionA gentle meditation combining a body scan with affirmations, inviting you to slow down, reconnect with your body, and create a little space to simply be.
  • 12:40 – 1:00Guided Body Relaxation / Yoga NidraLie back and let a guided practice bring your body into deep rest.
  • 1:00 – 1:20Relaxing BreathA short breathwork practice to settle and slow down.
  • 1:30 – 2:00Open DoorWalk in anytime, ask questions, and connect personally with the space and its practices.
  • 2:00 – 2:30InterludeA Transcendental Meditation session.
  • 2:40 – 3:00Energizing BreathA breathwork practice to lift energy back up.
  • 3:15 – 4:45Mini Breath of BecomingA longer, immersive guided breathwork journey.
  • 4:45 – 5:00Closing the Healing RoomA gentle close to the day in this space.