The Ministry of Culture will organize the BRICS Theatre Festival 2026 from 12 to 14 October 2026 in New Delhi under India's BRICS Presidency 2026. The three-day festival, themed "Shared Stories, Shared Futures", will bring together over 100 theatre practitioners, scholars, students and cultural representatives from nine BRICS Member and Partner Countries: India, Thailand, Indonesia, Russia, Vietnam, Iran, South Africa, Kazakhstan and Ethiopia.
Secretary of Ministry of Culture Vivek Aggarwal highlighted the festival's significance as an important cultural engagement under India's BRICS Presidency and its role in advancing people-to-people connections through theatre. The festival builds on the Bhopal Declaration adopted at the BRICS Culture Ministers' Meeting in August 2026, which emphasized greater cultural cooperation, people-to-people exchanges and stronger networks among artists. India had proposed a voluntary Artist Registry to facilitate such exchanges.
The festival will be inaugurated at the National School of Drama on 12 October 2026. Performances will be staged at prominent theatre venues including the National School of Drama and its Abhimanch Auditorium and Sammukh Auditorium, along with Kamani Auditorium, LTG Auditorium and Meghdoot Theatre. India will showcase two theatre productions, while participating countries will present productions reflecting their diverse languages, theatrical traditions and contemporary creative expressions, with Russia being represented by two theatre groups.
The festival will showcase classical, contemporary and experimental forms of theatre. Interactive workshops and discussions involving directors, artistes and production teams will provide opportunities for exchange on artistic vision, performance traditions, acting methodologies, stagecraft and technical design. The National School of Drama, an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Culture, will serve as the nodal agency for organizing the festival.
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