Opened in 1982, facing the Upper Lake, Bhopal, it houses multiple art galleries, a graphic printing workshop, a ceramics workshop, an open-air amphitheatre, a studio theatre, an auditorium, a museum of tribal & folk art, and libraries of Indian poetry, classical music & folk music.

The initiative, in Madhya Pradesh, was furthered to fruition by cultural administrator, Ashok Vajpeyi,[1] an IAS-officer in the state Ministry of Education (1966-1992), who was also behind the setting up of the literary organization, 'Kalidas Academy', in Ujjain in 1983.

It was established and funded by the Department of Culture, Government of Madhya Pradesh,[6] though it is run by an autonomous 12-member Bharat Bhavan Trust.

[7] In the following decade, the institution grew to become an important cultural institution of India as it started attracting artists, scholars, students and other visitors from Indore, Jabalpur, Mumbai, Kolkata and even foreign countries.

[2][3] During its formative years, theatre personality, B. V. Karanth who headed the 'Rangamandal repertory', incorporated folk forms of the region into his work, staged many productions in Hindi, especially during his stint at the Bharat Bhavan.