About Us
Urban Folk Project began in Bangalore in 2017 as a collective exploring folk traditions through theatre, film, workshops, and open public learning. Over time, the work shifted from rediscovery to deeper collaboration with women and queer artists from North Karnataka—Jogappas, bhajan singers, pastoral performers—rooted in shared questions of voice, caste, gender, and memory. In 2020, the project moved to Kalaburgi, where it now works closely with communities through field research, performance, and pedagogy. Projects like Yellamma and Other Stories, Songs of My Ancestors, and Songs of Shravana explore how folk forms carry grief, resistance, and generational knowledge. UFP today is a living practice—where voice becomes method, where folk knowledge is honoured not as heritage, but as active memory and cultural labour. We create slowly, listen deeply, and centre the voices that have long been pushed to the margins.
The Team
Shilpa Mudbi
Artistic Director &
Co-founder
Adithya Kothakota
Co-founder
Asim Siddique
Advisor
is an artist currently living in Kalaburgi. Born and brought up in Bangalore, she graduated in Media Arts and Production from Sydney, Australia. She has been in the field of social justice as a social activist and media consultant with NGOs working on youth, women, and child rights. She has been a Karnataka Janapada (folk) Academy member for three years between 2019 to 2022. She is currently on the Academic Advisory Committee of the IGNCA, Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, Bangalore.
is a 3rd generation Bangalorean currently living in Kalaburgi. While he mainly focuses on the operational activities of UFP, he moonlights as a co-performer with Shilpa. He graduated with a CPA and Masters in Accounting from Sydney, Australia. His previous work experience, spanning almost a decade, was in the Finance and Tech space.
Asim is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the Azim Premji University Bangalore. As a teacher, researcher and socio-cultural worker, he works towards issues of cultural and ecological justice by drawing upon various philosophical traditions from India and outside, in terms of both intellectual and embodied practices. Outside University, he does dramaturgy, consultancy and experiential education workshops for various art and developmental organisations. In his previous avatar, he has worked with NGOs and technology start-ups, along with getting an undergraduate degree from IIT Delhi. He is our in-house Advisor and Research Head.