AKADEMIES AND NATIONAL SCHOOL OF
 DRAMA

With a view to preserving, fostering and developing the creative arts literary, performing and plastic arts-the Government of India has set up the three National Akademies viz., Sangeet Natak Akademi, Sahitya Akademi and Lalit Kala Akademi; the National School of Drama and the Centre for Cultural Resources and Training. The main activities under- taken by these organisations during the year are given below

Sahitya Akademi

The main activities of the Sahitya Akademi are : popularising writers and language-literature beyond their language boundaries through transla- tions, literary awards to outstanding books of literary merit and fellow- ship honours and through its publication programme; assessing literary trends and encouraging experiments in the various Indian languages through its various journals; providing platform for literary discussion and opinions through its seminars; encouraging younger generation writers through its various workshops, travel grants and other schemes. The Akademi is now compiling a detailed Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature with the help of over 1000 writers belonging to the 22 recognised languages.

During the year the Akademi organised three seminars (i) An Inter- national Ramayana Seminar with the theme 'Variations in Ramayana. in Asia : Their Cultural, Social and Anthropological Significance and (ii) two International seminars in honour of Munshi Premnchand on his birth cen- tenary, one at Delhi and another at Varanasi, with the theme, premchand and the Problem of Indianness in Indian Fiction'. There were three Regional seminars at Bombay, Calcutta and Madras to coincide with the Premnchand Birth Centenary Celebrations with the theme 'Premchand and the Problem of Realism in Indian Fiction'. Two more national seminars were organised at Chandigarh, one in honour of the Punjabi saint poet Syed Bulleh Shah with the theme 'Sufism and Bhakti Poetry in Mediaeval Indian Literature' and the other in honour of the Birth Centenary of the great Punjabi thinker Puran Singh with the theme 'The Search for National Identity in Early Modern Indian Poetry'.

The Akademi published several new titles in its Makers of Indian Literature series and translations of these and earlier monographs were published in majorlanguages. Sixty publications are likely to be brought out in 1981-82.

Six issues of Indian Literature (English Journal) and four issues of Samakaleen Bharateeya Sahitya (Hindi Journal) were also published dur- ing this period.

Sangeet Natak Akademi

The Akademi continued to promote preservation and dissemination of the traditional and contemporary art. In the field of preservation and pro- motion of puppetry' trainees in three traditional forms of puppetry, namely, shadow theatre of Karnataka and Kerala, String Puppets of Orissa and Rod Puppets of West Bengal will complete their training. Training in Glove puppetry of Orissa has also been started. The Akademi organised a festival of puppet theatre during November, 1981.

In the field of preservation and promotion of rare forms, the following forms are being given sustenance through student training programme

1. Koodiyattam: 2. Dhrupad 3. Sarangi 4. Ravanchaya

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5. Aribapala 6. Bhaona Ankiyanat and Deodhani

In the field of development to tribal culture, a festival of tribal arts of Dangi was organised from April 11-14, 1981 at Ahwa (Gujarat) in colla- boration with the Government of Gujarat and Indian National Theatre, Bombay. The festival included an exhibition, a seminar and performances covering all traditional art forms of Dangi region. A tribal festival was organised during May 25-26, 1981 at Awangkhul (Manipur) in collabora- tion with the Institute of People's Action, Manipur. In this festival music and dance of 'Rongmei' and 'Marain', 'Tar-ao', 'Meetei' and 'Kuki' tribes were presented. The Akademi proposes to organise similar festivals of tribal art in Nagaland, Rajasthan and in Mirzapur region of Uttar Pradesh.

To promote national integration the Akademi continued to implement the programmes under the scheme of "Inter-State Exchange of Cultural Troupes". Under the Scheme of "Assistance to young theatre workers" the Akudemi awarded fellowships to 9 theatre workers belonging to differ- ent language theatre areas. The Akademi also held d national level work-' shop in Bangalore from December 3-10, 1981 in collaboration with Natya Sangh-Theatre Centre, Bangalore. During the year the Akademi brought the following forms of performing art under the purview of its 'Scheme of fellowships, under the Gurus who have achieved eminence in rare and languishing forms of traditional performing arts'.

(1) Mohiniattarn (2) Nangiar Koothu (3) Araiyar Sevai (4) Folk Rhythms of Himachal Pradesh

The Gurus and the trainees are given financial support under the scheme.

The Akademi continued to add taped music, photographs and colour transparencies on various forms of art to its archives as a part of its com- prehensive programme of documentation and dissemination.

The Akademi brought out the publications "Evolution of Khyal" by M. V. Dhond and "Muthuswami Dikshita Sangrah". Under its scheme of "grants to cultural institutions" the Akademi sanctioned grants amounting to Rs. 8.37 lakhs to 212 national and regional institutions and State Akademies

Lalit Kala Akademi

The activities of the Lalit Kala Akademi cover Organisation of exhibi- tions, publication of Art books, journals, multicolour reproductions, hold- ing of Artists' Camps, fellowship ceremonies, lectures etc. During the year the Akademi presented the following exhibitions upto November, 1981.

A. Exhibitions

1. Two Exhibitions of Polish Posters, the second of posters speci- fically made for the Asia Pacific Museum, Warsaw.

2. "The Parisians"-photographs depicting life in Paris.

3. Circulating Exhibition No. 13, drawn from the Akademi's collection.

4. Exhibition of 74 prints made at Garhi.

5. Exhibition of Drawings.

6. Exhibition of Art trends in Southern Region 11.

7. Exhibition of Paintings, graphics and sculptures at the Art Gallery at Pragati Maidan during India 'International Trade Fair.

8. Binode Behari Mukherjee Memorial Exhibition.

9. UNESCO Travelling Exhibition of Chinese Painting-,,.

10. An Exhibition of Cuban Art.

11. An Exhibition of 55 British Posters by Ken Meharg and Bob Linney entitled- X3.

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12. An Exhibition of 31 paintings., 19 graphics and 14 sculptures selected from the National Exhibition 1981 (Madras, Bangalore and Hyderabad).

13. Exhibition of 60 paintings, graphics and sculptures of the scholars awarded scholarships in visual arts by the Depart- ment of Culture between 1964-1977.

14. An Exhibition of Bowls of Asia.

15. Exhibition of Facsimile copies of wall paintings, Bombay.

The Akademi participated in the following exhibitions abroad viz. (1) Asian Art Bangladesh 1981 and (2) Fifth International Small Plastics Exhibition (Budapest).

B. Camps

Poster Workshops were conducted at Delhi by Ken Meharg and Bob Linney (Britain) and Prof. Grabrowsky (Poland).

Publications

C. Twenty-four new publications have been/will be issued during 1981-82.

D. Fellowships

The following new Fellows have been elected: 1. Prof. Sankho Chauduri 2. Prof. Prodosh Das Gupta 3. Prof. S. Dhanpal 4. Prof. K. S. Kulkarni 5. Dr. M. S. Randhawa

During the remaining period of 1981-82, the Akademi proposes to undertake the following programmes viz. (1) Fifth Triennale of world Con- temporary art in which about 50 countries will participate; (2) Kala Mela.4 (3) National Exhibition of Art, 1982; and (4) Exhibition of Miniature Paintings from the collection of Sri J. Geenka.

National School of Drama

The National School of Drama imparts training in dramatic arts lead- ing to three-year diploma course besides the practical training in the form of performances. It has 85 students on its rolls besides the teaching, technical and administrative staff. As a part of academic training, students produce play under the direction of one of the students of the class. Ten plays like "Death in Instalments", "Minor Re" (a musical adaptation of la-musica), "Moment Fails," etc.,were produced by the students. Fifteen more plays are proposed to be produced by the students. The students also produce plays under the direction of visiting theatre experts. Four plays, one each directed by Shri M. K. Raina, Shri Ranjit Kapoor, Shri R. P. Sengupta and Shri Bhanu Bharati were staged. The school proposes to produce 10 more plays under the direction of eminent theatre personalities.

The other activities of the -school are through the media of its various extension programmes like Repertory Company, Children's Theatre Workshop and organization of Intensive Theatre Workshops at different places in The country. The Repertory Company of the school has produced three plays and gave 20 performances. The Company proposes to stage 5 more plays during the coming months. As a part of children's theatre workshop, children in the age-group of 8-14 years receive training in drama at the school. As a part of their training the children will produce three plays. The school organises an intensive theatre workshop every year at a place where training facilities in theatre are not available. One such workshop was organised at Ranchi in collaboration with the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra. Forty delegates attended the workshop. In order to highlight the traditional forms of art, the school in collaboration with a local group organises every year a festival on the style and form of the art prevalent in that particular region. The school will participate in the Yakshagana Festival in January 1982 which will highlight the tradi- tional forms of art in South India. The participating students of the school will produce a play "Krishna Arjun Yudh" under the guidance of two experts in Yakshagana style.

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