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real achievement Sir, Abhinav theatre has been equipped with a central air conditioning unit and some new theatre related equipment. It was reopened with much fanfare in attendance of the Chief Minister and several cabinet ministers. The media also gave due attention to the event and praised the man or should I say the men behind the success story. Your paper went to the extent of saying that "the triumph of the Secretary of the Academy of Art, Culture and Languages is not limited to procuring funds for carrying out repairs in Abhinav. His real achievement lies in focusing the attention of a complacent and disinterested political set up and bureaucracy toward art, culture and literacy." At the end of the millennium when countries around the world are carefully documenting their pasts, their masterworks in literature and arts, we are rejoicing about air conditioners, green rooms and new toilets! Vandalised sculptures, deteriorated painting by masters like Biren De, G.R. Santosh and Swaminathan, defunct sections for recording/documenting ancient art and absence of any scholarly publication in the field of Art History are few other facts that should be taken in account before we talk about any real achievements. A department where a State of the art computer complete with a scanner and a laser printer is not being used even for the every day correspondence and the Language Editors have to make do without later for writing and corresponding name of proportion of visual arts occasional art exhibitions are held just to fill the event calendars and where works of art are rotting without any documentation should not be accorded such accolades. Much of this inefficiency was evident in the celebrations marking India's fiftieth year of Independence when day after day the Academy organised functions with no audience. No attempt was made to highlight or to document the rich ancient art of the existing folk art forms (village mud wall paintings) in these celebrations. Not a single seminar on Art History was arranged. The lack of planning was evident in the hastily organised film screenings or one or two stray art exhibitions and repetitive "Morni tille de" type dance performances. Theatre, few dances and period. Is that all what the art and culture of this state amounts to? We do need recording
studios but more than that we need to document and
preserve what is already there. Being a poor country, we
need to prioritise and consolidate. College of Fine Arts
in Jammu and Srinagar do not have good studio facilities,
standard of the education in arts is very poor in the
State and the students lack exposure at every level.
There is not a single scientific art gallery in the
State. Exhibitions Specialists, Art Historians,
Conservators are still an alien breed of professionals as
far as this state is concerned. It is time to sit up and
take notice for in the words of your paper, "If we
are not able to save our arts, culture and literature
from extinction, what at all is our purpose of fighting
the terrorists and mercenaries?" It is our wake up
call otherwise Academy of Art, Culture and Languages
might have to be rechristened as the Academy of Theatre
plus Dance Minus Music. |
