MUMBAI: Ranthambore Festival, the three-day cultural fiesta will shine at the majestic Nahargarh Palace from 27-29 January 2017.

To be held on 27-29 January 2017, Ranthambore Festival will be executed at the Nahargarh Fort, that safely stands on the edge of Aravalli Hills in Rajasthan, overlooking the Pink City, Jaipur.

The agenda behind this innovative music festival is to preserve India’s wildlife and support dying musical forms through performances. The message will be conveyed through music, open-air film screenings, interactive talks, participatory workshops and more.

The first edition of Ranthambore Festival is envisioned by NGO, Puqaar Foundation. Radioandmusic.com got the opportunity to speak to the Programme Director of Ranthambore Festival, Ashutosh Pande, on the elements that define the festival’s association with the brand, goals of the festival, the new additions, emphasis on data, brand associations, and more. Excerpts.

Tell us about Puqaar’s association with the festival?

Puqaar Foundation works in the field of indigenous music and nature conservation with a strong message of inclusion and knowledge sharing. We are organising the Ranthambore Festival in association with First Stone and BookASmile as an annual vehicle to provide a platform to for artists, conservationists, wildlife filmmakers and photographers, to connect with and inspire a wide audience. The interactions and experiences are designed to inspire disruptive ideas and action plans for Puqaar to work on for the rest of the year.

How is an NGO like Puqaar Foundation executing and strategising the programme? What’s the end goal?

This festival has been imagined, designed, and executed entirely by the Puqaar Foundation. Our immediate goals are to reduce the anonymity associated with folk music, also reduce the opacity surrounding wildlife conservation. Inclusivity is our primary aim and keeping the festival free for day visitors is one way of ensuring that anyone who wants to attend can do so without a second thought.

While most festivals that seek to celebrate Rajasthan’s rich tapestry of folk music exist in vast numbers, Ranthambore Festival is the first festival in India to position itself as a festival of preservation and awareness giving the public an insight into the efforts of music and nature conservation stakeholders.

What kind of a marketing approach are you adopting for the festival? 

In year one, we’ve focussed on strong digital marketing campaigns and reached out to people in the metros who love nature, wildlife, and are attracted by indigenous performing arts. Our focus is on content, and this is helping us attract people who immediately feel some connect with our festival theme. We’ve reached out to approximately 1.2 million people through Google, Facebook, and Twitter and seen strong engagement from cities like Mumbai, Delhi, and Jaipur. Our partners First Stone and BookASmile are helping us reach out through their networks. On-ground, we’ve focussed on raising awareness in Jaipur in year one, as Jaipur has a deep love for Ranthambore. Also, this is the closest city to Ranthambore and we feel that this festival will be a beautiful weekend experience for the people of Jaipur.

Do you think demonetisation will affect the festival?

Since the festival is in Ranthambore, a popular tourism destination, we have a ready-made festival audience of approximately 2,000 people who are in Ranthambore for this weekend. We feel that our festival will bring more people to Ranthambore on this weekend. It’s a symbiotic relationship – the destination brings us people who love nature, and the festival’s marketing campaign reaches out to a whole new set of people who will now see Ranthambore as a beautiful destination.  In a sense, this festival provides a strong and positive boost to counter whatever negative impact demonetisation may have had on Ranthambore.  

What are the arrangements in terms of security and safety measures?

The active team of Puqaar includes legends like Abhimanyu Alsisar, Jaideep Singh, Zila Khan, Warren D’Sylva and Dhruv Singh. Between them, they have designed, led, and executed some of India’s biggest music festivals – like VH1 Supersonic, Magnetic Fields, and BIG69. Security and safety are always extremely important and we have overcompensated in this regard as always.

What is the share of revenue generated through sponsors?

We have some amazing partners who have supported our vision and have come on board for the long term. BookASmile and First Stone are our title partners, and we are supported by Bajaao.com, Mixtape, Entco, Coca-Cola, Ballantine, Alsisar Hotels, Grover Wines, CMS Vatavaran, Ustad Gah, Pearl Academy, Sound.com and many more amazing companies and individuals.

This is a free and not-for-profit festival and is designed to be revenue-neutral.

Know more about the festival

Nahargarh fort spruces up for Ranthambore Festival debut edition

Ranthambore Festival announces its line-up; to live through the richness of Rajasthani folk music and wildlife landscape