To Help Artists During COVID Pandemic, Ministry Of Culture Released Rs 54.62. Crore

NEW DELHI || Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, the entire artist community faced a financial crisis and lost their means of livelihood. To help these artists, the Ministry of Culture ensured speedy and timely release of the grants to the artists under various Central Sector, minister of culture, Prahlad Singh informed the Lok Sabha on Monday.

Financial assistance for cultural activities in performing arts included funds for building studio theatres. Zonal Cultural Centres (ZCCs) have provided financial assistance of Rs. 927.83 lakh to the artists.

The Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA) being national academy of music, dance and drama have organized programmes during the current pandemic like a weekly webinar with itsfFellows and awardees in the field of music, dance, drama, folk & tribal arts and puppetry.

Akademi has successfully organized 32 webinars by which 32 artists have also been monetarily benefited.

It also conducted Deeksha - an online training series in various dance forms like Kathak, Kutiyattam, Manipuri, Sattriya, Chhau. 15 Deeksha programmes have been organized and around Rs 11 lakh has been released to senior artists, gurus and their accompanists.

An amount of Rs 16.00 lakh was released to the artists who participated in Yog Parv - a festival of music, dance, drama, folk & tribal arts and puppetry. Folk artists from member states were offered online platforms for their performance.

From October onwards, SNA has been planning to virtual festivals of music, dance, drama, folk & tribal and puppetry besides the festivals in physical from January, 2021.