THRISSUR: The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), a premier government-funded organisation functioning under the Union Ministry of Culture, is fast getting ready to open a regional centre at Thrissur.While the centre, to be based at Thekke Madom, will be opened in the first quarter of next year, the autonomous trust is currently working on an ambitious multi-crore project to set up a virtual arts museum in the state to offer an altogether different experience, particularly during the process of learning traditional arts. The IGNCA will associate itself with one of the universities in the state, preferably Kerala Kalamandalam, for the venture.
The IGNCA, based in New Delhi, had two regional centres, in Bengaluru and Varanasi. The government decided to have another nine in order to give a fresh impetus to the research in the field of traditional arts and culture. Other than Thrissur, a centre each will function at Puducherry, Goa, Ranchi, Guwahati, Vadodara and Srinagar. Decision on the location of the remaining two will be taken soon.
IGNCA Kerala in-charge K N Valsakumar told Express it had considered Thiruvananthapuram as an option while finalising the centre's base in Kerala, but Thrissur’s status as the state’s cultural capital won it the most votes.
“Thiruvananthapuram was considered seriously, but the general feeling was that it's the political capital and we should be based at Thrissur,” said Valsakumar.Launched by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1985, IGNCA describes itself as a centre encompassing the study and experience of all the arts - each form with its own integrity yet within a dimension of mutual interdependence, interrelated with nature, social structure and cosmology.
The arts comprise the fields of creative and critical literature, written and oral; the visual forms ranging from architecture, sculpture, painting and graphics to photography and film; the performing arts of music, dance and theatre in their broad meaning; and all else in fairs, festivals and lifestyle that has an artistic dimension.
To be a reality soon
The IGNCA will also set up a virtual arts museum in the state, in association with one of the universities, preferably Kerala Kalamandalam
The Central Government had decided to start nine regional centres for IGNCA, apart from Thrissur