ADELAIDE.- Adelaide Fringe has been awarded $200,000 through the Australian Government’s Maitri Grant Program, supported by the Centre for Australia-India Relations to deliver a two-year cultural exchange across 2027 and 2028 with India in partnership with Kommune, producers of Spoken Fest.

The project, Spoken Without Borders, will connect Adelaide Fringe and Spoken Fest through storytelling, poetry and performance, creating new opportunities for artists, producers and programmers across Australia and India.

The announcement follows the Third Australia–India Annual Summit Joint Statement, published by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, which stated:

“The Prime Ministers underscored that people are at the heart of the partnership, noting that the Indian community in Australia was now Australia’s largest overseas-born group. The Leaders valued the important role the Indian Australian community played in Australia’s vibrant, multicultural society, and welcomed the announcement of $10 million for the Centre for Australia-India Relations’ Maitri grants to deepen economic collaboration and people-to-people links.”

Supported by the Centre for Australia-India Relations, the project will build on Adelaide Fringe’s Honey Pot international arts marketplace to support reciprocal artist exchange, industry connection and audience development across both countries.

The program will include Adelaide Fringe artists performing at Spoken Fest Mumbai, Indian artists and bilingual Hindi-English works presented at Adelaide Fringe in 2027 and 2028, and Australian artists supported to connect with India’s growing live performance and touring networks.

Adelaide Fringe Executive Director Programs and Development, Jo O’Callaghan said: “We’ve seen Adelaide Fringe audiences respond with amazing positivity to Indian artists and works in recent years. This partnership presents an incredible opportunity for Adelaide Fringe, and for the artists, producers and programmers who use Fringe as a launchpad to access the rest of the world. India has one of the world’s most exciting storytelling cultures, and this project creates a practical bridge between artists and audiences in both countries.”

“Through Honey Pot we have grown our partnership with Kommune, and we will continue to strengthen touring pathways for independent artists and companies, build new creative relationships and bring more Indian artists and audiences into the Adelaide Fringe program.”

Centre for Australia-India Relations CEO Ryan Neelam said: “People-to-people connections are at the heart of what makes this relationship endure. Maitri celebrates the shared stories, ideas and creative exchange that bring Australia and India closer together.”





Mumbai-based director of Kommune, Tess Joseph, said: “In 2025, I went to Honey Pot with a notebook, curiosity and came home with the beginnings of a show and a dream to build a partnership across borders. In 2026, the show I imagined came to be because of an Adelaide Fringe grant and won an award. Now, in 2027 and 2028, we have the chance to open that door much wider. Spoken Without Borders is about Indian artists arriving in all their complexity, language, humour, politics and imagination, while Australian artists enter a real and living relationship with audiences and collaborators here in India. Let’s build the largest listening party across India and Australia!”

The project will also include an Expression of Interest process for artists in Australia and can be submitted via:

http://adlfrin.ge/fringexpoken

Spoken Fest is one of India’s most recognisable platforms for live storytelling, poetry and spoken word performance, with a strong digital community and reach across India’s major cities.

Spoken Fest has also received recent industry recognition at the WOW Awards Asia 2026, the region’s largest awards and recognition platform for the experiential marketing, live events, entertainment and wedding industries. Spoken Evening events in Lucknow and Indore won Gold for Festival of the Year, Art/Culture/Lifestyle under 10,000 attendees, while Spoken Fest Mumbai 2026 received Silver for Festival of the Year, Art/Culture/Lifestyle above 10,000 attendees.

The collaboration will support Adelaide Fringe’s broader international engagement strategy, while positioning South Australia as a creative destination for Indian artists, audiences and industry.

Spoken Without Borders is supported by the Australian Government through the Centre for Australia-India Relations. For more information about the Centre for Australia-India Relations, visit australiaindiacentre.org.au.

Adelaide Fringe 2027 will be held from 19 February to 21 March 2027, with tickets on sale from Dec 4, 2026.