By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
The 2026 edition of the Virasat Art and Heritage Festival will begin on October 23 at the Himalayan Cultural Centre in Nimbuwala, Dehradun, with a 15-day programme celebrating India’s classical music, folk traditions, dance, theatre, literature and handicrafts with a special focus on Uttarakhand.
Organised by REACH (Rural Entrepreneurship for Art and Cultural Heritage), the festival will conclude on November 6 with a performance by famed singer Usha Uthup. The organisers say the new venue will provide a more spacious setting for the event and help ease traffic-related problems experienced in previous editions.
Announcing the programme at a press conference at a Dehradun hotel on Wednesday, REACH founder and president R.K. Singh said the organisation aimed to take Virasat to the international stage. This year’s edition will feature 29 programmes in the auditorium, along with a theatre festival, folk performances, exhibitions, shopping and food stalls.
The festival will open with Uttarakhand’s famous Chholiya dance and folk music by the Upreti Sisters. The inaugural evening will also feature renowned thumri vocalist Pandit Sajan Mishra and Swaransh Mishra.
Among the leading performers scheduled to appear are Hindustani classical vocalist Begum Parveen Sultana, Carnatic vocalist T.M. Krishna, violinist Dr N. Rajam, sitarists Dhruv Bedi and Samanway Sarkar, sarod player Smit Tiwari and young violinist Ragini Shankar.
Other highlights include performances by Indian Ocean, Sufi singer Osmaan Mir, Mahesh Kale, Rahul Deshpande, Siddharth Belmannu and ghazal singer Priyanka Barve. Jasbir Jassi will present a musical tribute to Raja Randhir Singh.
The programme will also bring together Indian and Western musical traditions through a performance by violinist Kumaresh and internationally acclaimed saxophonist George Brooks. Veena recitals by Rajesh Vaidya and Ramana Balachandran will be among the other attractions.
Dance, theatre and folk traditions
The festival will showcase classical dance forms through performances by Shinjini Kulkarni, Aarohi Munshi, Vani Madhav and Moumala Nayak, representing Kathak, Bharatanatyam and Odissi.
The thematic productions will include Bahar-e-Lucknow, a dance presentation by Pandit Krishna Mohan; Chandni Mehfil, in which Manjari Chaturvedi explores the history and cultural heritage of tawaifs; and Tawaifnama – Ek Yatra.
Marking 125 years of the gramophone, The Performing Arts Tribe will present a programme dedicated to Gauhar Jaan.
Folk traditions of Uttarakhand will occupy a prominent place in the festival. Artists from the Sparsh Tribal Social Organisation will perform Jaunsari dances, while Jaunsar Bawar Lok Sur Sangam and Jaunsar Bawar Sanskritik Hiloyat Rangmanch will present regional music and dance.
The Aas Social and Culture Society will showcase Kumaoni folk traditions, while Sarita Banola of Kotdwar and the Mahila Jagriti Samiti will present Garhwali performances. The Pandavani Lok Kala Manch and Sunidhi will also feature in the folk programme.
A performance of Chakravyuh will be among the major folk-theatre attractions. An environmental-themed folk play focusing on Uttarakhand will also be staged.
International participation will include a folk troupe from Sri Lanka and musical performances by artists from Kazakhstan.
Literature, poetry and storytelling
The festival will feature a literary programme bringing together authors, poets and speakers, including former LBS Academy Mussoorie Sanjeev Chopra, Buddhinath Mishra, Rajkumar Panwar, Manoj Bharthwal, Ambar Kharbanda, Someshwar Pandey, Inderjeet Singh, Gandharv Gopal Joshi and Sachin Chauhan.
A literary and crime-fiction festival will provide a platform for discussions on writing and crime literature.
Traditional storytelling will feature through dastangoi, with performances by Astha Shukla, Tasneem Sund and Syed Sahil Agha. A mushaira will bring together Urdu poets Sheen Kaaf Nizam, Madan Mohan Danish, Rajesh Reddy, Iqbal Ashhar, Azhar Iqbal, Mukesh Alam and Muzaffar Abdali.
A Hindi poetry symposium will feature Arun Sharma, Pradeep Mayus, Ramesh Chandra, Rajni Chauhan and Nikhil Chauhan.
Crafts, shopping and activities for children
Besides performances, Virasat will offer visitors an opportunity to explore traditional handicrafts, garments, wooden artefacts, metalwork, furniture, quilts, woollen products and dry fruits sourced from India and abroad. Food stalls will add to the festival experience.
The organisers have planned educational and creative activities for schoolchildren, including the Shilp Treasure Hunt, the Virasat Heritage Quiz organised by Vikas Evam Utthan Samiti, and Virasat Sadhana, which will provide a platform for students to present classical music and dance.
Vintage car and motorcycle rallies, a superbike rally and activities at Virasat Village and the amphitheatre will add to the programme.
RK Singh said the larger venue at the Himalayan Cultural Centre would allow the festival to present a wider range of cultural activities and offer visitors an opportunity to experience the heritage of Uttarakhand alongside artistic traditions from across India and abroad.
The press conference was attended by REACH joint secretary Vijayashree Joshi, Virasat Festival director Lokesh Ohri, Priyanda Iyer, REACH members Ashutosh and Sameer Sinha who is former head of the Uttarakhand Forest Department, and Neeraj Sharma, head of human resources at ONGC.