New Delhi: The Ministry of Culture will organise the BRICS Theatre Festival 2026 from October 12 to 14, 2026, in New Delhi, as part of India’s BRICS Presidency 2026. The three-day festival, themed “Shared Stories, Shared Futures,” will bring together more than 100 theatre practitioners, scholars, students and cultural representatives from nine BRICS Member and Partner Countries.
The festival is being positioned as a major cultural engagement under India’s BRICS Presidency, with a focus on strengthening people-to-people connections through theatre. According to the Ministry of Culture, the event builds on the Bhopal Declaration, adopted at the BRICS Culture Ministers’ Meeting in August 2026, which emphasised greater cultural cooperation, people-to-people exchanges and stronger networks among artists and cultural practitioners.
The participating countries are India, Thailand, Indonesia, Russia, Vietnam, Iran, South Africa, Kazakhstan and Ethiopia. India will showcase two theatre productions, while participating countries will present performances reflecting their diverse languages, theatrical traditions and contemporary creative expressions. Russia will be represented by two theatre groups.
The festival will be inaugurated at the National School of Drama (NSD) on October 12. Performances will be staged across prominent theatre venues in New Delhi, including the National School of Drama, Abhimanch Auditorium, Sammukh Auditorium, Kamani Auditorium, LTG Auditorium and Meghdoot Theatre. The programme will feature classical, contemporary and experimental forms of theatre.
Alongside performances, the festival will host interactive workshops and discussions involving directors, artistes and production teams. These sessions will facilitate exchanges on artistic vision, performance traditions, acting methodologies, stagecraft and technical design, creating opportunities for practitioners from different countries to engage professionally and creatively.
The Ministry of Culture said the festival’s significance has also been recognised in the BRICS Leaders’ Declaration, which welcomed the Bhopal Declaration and initiatives aimed at strengthening cultural cooperation, cultural exchanges and people-to-people ties.
The National School of Drama, an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Culture, will serve as the nodal agency for organising the festival. The event seeks to create a shared artistic platform connecting artistes, theatre practitioners and audiences while strengthening cultural cooperation among BRICS countries.
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