Located in heart of Bangalore city, it was built to commemorate the birth centenary of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

[2] Many well known theatre and film personalities like Umashree, Mukhyamantri Chandru, T. S. Nagabharana, Master Hirannaiah, C. R. Simha, T. N. Seetharam, and Prakash Rai among others have performed at Kalashektra.

In 1959, a high-level committee was formed to build the Kalakshetra under the chairmanship of then chief minister B. D. Jatti, with cultural stalwarts like Shivaram Karanth, Mallikarjuna Mansur, Gorur Ramaswamy Iyengar, T. Chowdaiah and Vimala Rangachar as members.

Famous personalities like Sivaji Ganesan, a popular Tamil cine actor and others came forward to contribute for the construction of the Kalakshetra.

[2] The Kalakshetra has a modern and technically developed auditorium with 900-seat capacity, including 400 in balcony,[2] lighting systems, an acoustics and many other facilities.