Nepal Art and Culture Festival 2025
Venue: Nepal Art Council, Kathmandu
Dates: 5th – 27th September 2025
Occasion: Coinciding with Indra Jatra – a celebration of history, culture, and spirituality.
Background:
The Nepal Art & Culture Festival 2025, held across Kathmandu, Lalitpur, and Bhaktapur, aims to honor Nepal’s diverse cultural, artistic, and craft traditions. The festival will be held during the festival of Indra Jatra, one of the most vibrant and significant festivals of the Kathmandu Valley. Celebrated to honor Lord Indra, the god of rain and heaven, Indra Jatra marks the end of the monsoon. It is known for its spectacular masked dances, chariot processions, and the display of ancient traditions in their truest form.
Exhibition Theme — Roots and Reflection:
This exhibition, Roots and Reflection, will be part of the Nepal Art & Cultural Festival and is envisioned as a dedicated space where artists explore the layers of identity, heritage, and memory that shape Nepal.
The theme is intentionally inclusive, welcoming all genres and mediums of art—from traditional and contemporary paintings, sculptures, and mixed media to installations, digital art, and performance pieces.
This exhibition serves as a reflective journey for artists and audiences alike, encouraging introspection of personal reflections while contemplating Nepal’s collective roots. It provides a platform for artists to engage with their own stories, experiences, and the country’s ever-evolving cultural ethos.
In alignment with the timing of the festival and the cultural pulse of the Valley, artists are strongly encouraged to draw inspiration from Nepal’s cultural roots, and traditions, including the Jatras. These vibrant street festivals are integral to our heritage. Jatras, with their rich symbolism, traditional myths, tales, music, dances, communal rituals, and narratives, embody the living culture of Nepal and offer a powerful visualization for artistic exploration.
Objective:
- To create an inclusive platform celebrating Nepal’s rich artistic diversity.
- To reflect on the connections between personal identity and collective cultural heritage.
- To reimagine and reinterpret the Jatra traditions through contemporary artistic lenses.
- To foster dialogue between traditional and modern expressions of Nepali art and culture.
Call for Artists:
We invite all Nepali artists residing within and outside the country from diverse disciplines and generations to participate in “Roots and Reflection.” Artists are encouraged to delve deep into their roots, engage with the environments around them, and produce works that resonate with the title of the exhibition. A special emphasis on Jatras is welcomed, offering an opportunity to creatively explore these vibrant festivities and their relevance in today’s society.
Exhibition Details:
Venue: Nepal Art Council, Kathmandu
Duration: 5th – 27th September 2025
Deadline for Artist Submission: Friday, 25th July 2025
Only selected artists for the exhibition will be informed in August 2025
Submission details:
All artwork must have been created after 2023 and not exhibited previously in or outside Nepal.
Medium: Traditional and contemporary paintings, sculptures and mixed media to installations and performance pieces.
Submission:
- Each artist can submit a maximum of 4 artworks.
- Kindly fill out the online form mentioning details (title, medium, FRAMED SIZE, date, and artist price).
- Kindly attach high-resolution photos (not more than 5 MB in size) of the artworks.
- Each file must be named after the title of the artwork in TIFF/JPG/ JPEG/ PNG format.