Anant National University Kicks Off WITH Festival 2026 and Unveils Its First-Ever Student Fest

Three days of art, design, performance and student-led celebration bring global voices on campus

AHMEDABAD, India, Feb. 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Anant National University transformed its campus into a vibrant cultural and creative hub as it hosted the 4th edition of WITH Festival alongside the inaugural Anant Student Fest (ASF) from 20–22 February 2026. Together, the two festivals created a shared platform for artistic expression, student innovation and cross-cultural exchange, open to the wider public.

The WITH Festival, themed ‘Borders Fade, Art Resonates’, is a globally distributed creative gathering that brings together media makers, designers and storytellers working at the intersection of art, technology and social impact. Through performances, dialogues and live artistic engagements, the festival celebrates local and global narratives while fostering creative collaboration across communities.

The WITH Festival 2026 was a celebration of diverse artistic expressions, including music, poetry, theatre and storytelling. Featured artists included masked martial arts dance by Manbhum Chhau team, Baul singer Rina Das and renowned dotara artist Kangal Kyapa, fusion band Maati Baani, Rajasthani folk artist Ghazi Khan, Code.Drift, a contemporary duo that transforms live-coded visuals and music into site-responsive performances and Beatnyk, a techno artist who integrates sound art, design and technology in his work.

The first edition of ASF showcased student-led creativity through inter-college competitions, exhibitions and performances. The three-day programme included competitions across theatre, dance, music, photography and fashion. The festival also organised an Artisan Haat featuring regional craftspeople, a curated Food Street, student-run business showcases and immersive experience zones.

Together, the festivals reflected Anant’s educational philosophy of learning through engagement, integrating art, design, community knowledge and emerging practices. By bringing students, artists and the public into a shared cultural environment, these fests encouraged dialogue, experimentation and creative exchange.

About the University: 

Anant National University, India’s premier design university, is dedicated to training students to devise solutions for global problems. Anant follows the DesignX pedagogy, where ‘X’ is the symbol drawn from mathematics, representing enhancement. This new learning approach multiplies traditional design pedagogy with liberal arts disciplines, emerging technologies and knowledge drawn from hands-on community experiences to help understand our world better and to devise impactful solutions.

Our multidisciplinary undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programmes in design, architecture, climate action and visual arts harness knowledge from various disciplines and traditional practices to integrate it with cutting-edge technology to address diverse challenges. We train our designers to become solutionaries — revolutionary thinkers with a solution-oriented mindset.

Anant National University has been recognised as the Centre of Excellence by the Government of Gujarat, highlighting our efforts to provide our students with world-class education, innovative pedagogy, high employability and enhanced entrepreneurial and research opportunities. Anant has also received the prestigious ‘5-Star Rating’ in the category of Architecture and a ‘4-Star Rating’ in the University category in the Gujarat State Institutional Rating Framework (GSIRF) 2023-24. These recognitions reinforce our commitment to creating a world-class institution of great eminence and excellence.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_TZ8l1ktTU

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