SANGEET NATAK ACADEMY - ART AND CULTURE
News: Sangeet Natak Akademi to felicitate 86 artistes
What's in the news?
● The Sangeet Natak Akademi has bestowed special one-time awards commemorating 75 years of India’s independence on 86 artistes, apart from selecting 128 performing artistes from various fields for its regular annual awards for the years 2019-21.
Key takeaways:
● The
86 awardees for the one-time prizes,
named Sangeet Natak Akademi Amrit Awards, include artistes who are above the
age of 75 years and haven’t been accorded any national honor in their career so
far in the field of the performing arts. The award carries a purse of ₹1,00,000.
● The
Amrit awardees are from across the country, including five from Tamil Nadu - R.
Ramani for Carnatic veena, V.A.K. Rangarao for dance music, Sundaresan
Ramamurthy for theater, Purusai Subramanuim for Terukoothu and Achalapuram
Chinnatambi for nadaswaram.
● The awardees also include five artistes each from Karnataka and Kerala and four from Telangana.
Sangeet Natak Academy:
● It
is the apex body in the field of
performing arts in the country.
● It
was set up in 1953 for the
preservation and promotion of the vast intangible heritage of India’s diverse
culture expressed in forms of music, dance and drama.
● It
was created by a resolution of the (then) Ministry of Education, Government of
India, in 1952 with Dr P.V. Rajamannar as its first Chairman.
● It
is presently an autonomous body of the Ministry
of Culture, Government of India and is fully funded by the Government for
implementation of its schemes and programmes.
● The
management of the Akademi vests in its General Council.
● The Chairman of the
akademi is appointed by the President of India for a term of five years.
● The
functions of the Akademi are set down in the Akademi’s Memorandum of
Association, adopted at its registration
as a society on 11 September 1961.
● The
Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards are the highest national recognition conferred on
practising artists.
● The
Akademi also confers Fellowships on eminent artists and scholars of music,
dance and drama; and has in 2006 instituted annual awards to young artists -
the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar.