Bengaluru’s long-running theatre troupe Benaka will mark the birth anniversary of director and dramatist BV Karanth with a month-long festival this September, pairing traditional stagecraft with a new corporate partner. The 2026 edition — timed around Karanth’s 98th birth anniversary — will run across Karnataka and include performances, workshops and community outreach programs backed by a US-based tech company’s CSR funding.
Benaka (Bengaluru Nagara Kalavidaru), launched in 1974 by artists close to Karanth’s circle, has organised Karantha Maasa every year to spotlight his contributions to modern Indian theatre. Karanth is remembered for integrating folk music, regional performance forms and inventive stage design, and for a spell as director of the National School of Drama.
This year’s festival is notable for a first: a partnership with Tekion, an AI-native technology company with an international workforce. Under its CSR portfolio — which focuses on health, education, equality and sustainability — Tekion will support Benaka’s efforts to preserve and broaden public access to Karnataka’s theatrical traditions.
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How the collaboration will operate
– Partners: Benaka and Tekion
– Festival name: Karantha Maasa (September 2026 edition marking Karanth’s 98th birth anniversary)
– Key dates: festival begins September 5 with a Dharwad tour; concludes September 22 in Bengaluru with a staging of Gokula Nirgamana at Ravindra Kalakshetra
– Planned activities: plays focusing on social impact, interactive theatre sessions, artist workshops, and employee-engagement programmes led by Tekion
– Tekion CSR focus: health, education, equality, sustainability; first tech-company tie-up for Benaka
Benaka’s president, filmmaker and theatre director TS Nagabharana, described the tie-up as a timely boost for an art form that relies on local talent and audiences. He framed the agreement as a way to help ensure that performing arts remain visible and relevant to younger generations, and welcomed a technology firm stepping in to support grassroots cultural work.
Representatives from Tekion said their involvement aims to nurture the region’s creative ecosystem and increase public engagement with live performance. Company spokespeople pointed to the planned mix of community-facing activities and internal programmes for employees as part of a broader effort to connect corporate resources with local culture.
Programming and reach
Benaka has mapped a mix of traditional repertoire and new productions for the festival. Several productions will travel to smaller towns before the Bengaluru finale, reflecting the troupe’s long-standing priority of taking theatre beyond urban cultural centers.
The collaboration is designed to be more than a one-off sponsorship. Organisers say the work will extend beyond the September festival, with year-round initiatives that include youth workshops, staged works addressing social themes, and projects that invite employees of the sponsor to engage directly with artists and audiences.
Why this matters now
Public and private collaboration on cultural preservation is increasingly visible in India’s arts sector, and this partnership illustrates how tech companies can play a role beyond branding. For audiences and practitioners in Karnataka, the support may provide resources to sustain touring programmes, training for young artists, and new formats that make theatre more accessible.
If the Tekion–Benaka alliance endures, it could become a model for how corporate CSR funds are channeled into living traditions — helping institutions adapt while keeping local performance practices in active circulation.
