Every artist has experienced it.

You’re sketching in a café. Choreographing in your bedroom. Photographing streets you’ve walked a hundred times. Writing stories inspired by people you’ll probably never meet.

But what if an entire city became part of your creative process?

That’s the idea behind Kalpane Hubba: Imagination Lab 0.1, a new multidisciplinary residency that invites emerging artists to see Bengaluru not simply as a place to live, but as a collaborator in their work.

Instead of asking artists to stay inside studios, the residency asks a different question: What happens when you let a city shape your art?

The programme is part of BLR Hubba 2027, Bengaluru’s city-wide arts and culture festival, and offers selected participants mentorship, funding, production support, and the opportunity to present their work at one of India’s largest cultural festivals.

As Festival Director Miti Desai explains, “My role now is to think about how culture can become part of everyday life, how public spaces can transform into cultural spaces, and how artists, communities, institutions, and citizens can collectively shape the cultural identity of a city.” That philosophy sits at the heart of Kalpane Hubba.

The City Is the Brief

Every residency has a theme. Kalpane Hubba’s is refreshingly simple:

The City as Context and Collaborator.

That means participants aren’t expected to arrive with a finished masterpiece. Instead, they’re encouraged to observe neighbourhoods, conversations, public spaces, histories, architecture, food, movement, and everyday life before transforming those experiences into creative work.

Whether you’re fascinated by disappearing lakes, metro journeys, local markets, forgotten buildings, or stories hidden inside Bengaluru’s many communities, the city itself becomes your research material.

As Miti puts it, “Bengaluru is not merely a backdrop to the festival; it is a participant.”

It is less about creating for the city and more about creating with it.

Who Can Apply?

The residency is designed for emerging artists from Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana.

Applications are open across multiple disciplines, including theatre, dance, music, visual arts, photography, sculpture, textiles, architecture, design, new media, and interdisciplinary practice.

Applicants should either be recent graduates within four years of completing their degree or practitioners who have undergone extensive traditional Guru-Shishya training.

In short, you don’t have to fit into a single artistic box. If your work crosses disciplines, this residency welcomes that curiosity.

More Than Just a Residency

One of the biggest challenges for young artists isn’t having ideas. It’s finding the support needed to bring those ideas to life.

Kalpane Hubba attempts to bridge that gap.

Selected artists will receive mentorship from experienced curators and invited experts, access to artist studios and cultural institutions, accommodation in Bengaluru, workspace facilities, travel support of up to ₹10,000, local stipends, and production grants of up to ₹50,000.

At the end of the residency, participants will showcase their work during BLR Hubba 2027, allowing their projects to reach a much wider audience.

For students hoping to build professional portfolios, collaborate with other creatives, or understand how large-scale cultural projects come together, this kind of exposure can be invaluable.

A Month of Making

The residency unfolds in three phases.

It begins with an online orientation from 10 to 16 December 2026 before moving into an incubation programme at Hampi Art Labs from 18 to 21 December. The final stage takes place in Bengaluru between 22 December 2026 and 18 January 2027, where artists spend nearly a month producing, developing, and eventually presenting their projects as part of the festival.

Rather than rushing toward a final outcome, the residency places equal importance on research, experimentation, collaboration, and reflection.

Why It Matters

Across the world, some of the most exciting creative work today emerges from collaboration between artists, communities, scientists, historians, designers, educators, and everyday citizens.

Kalpane Hubba reflects that shift.

Instead of viewing art as something created in isolation, it encourages participants to engage directly with people and places. A bus ride might become choreography. A neighbourhood conversation could inspire an installation. A public park may evolve into a performance space.

For students, it offers something even more valuable than funding or mentorship. It offers a new way of seeing.

As Miti Desai, says, “We want people to leave feeling more connected to Bengaluru, to one another, and to the incredible cultural richness that exists all around them.” Kalpane Hubba begins by giving artists the opportunity to create that connection.

Thinking of Applying?

Applications for Kalpane Hubba: Imagination Lab 0.1 are open until 15 August 2026.

Applicants will need to submit a 200-word artist statement, a 400-word project proposal, a portfolio, a bio and CV, and contact details for two referees.

If you’ve ever wondered what your art could become when an entire city becomes part of the creative process, this residency could be the perfect place to begin.