BHUBANESWAR: To see the art and the culture of the State flourishing on the global stage needs mainstreaming and setting up readymade markets for the final products.
This paradigm shift in the approach has been suggested by eminent litterateur Sitakant Mahapatra. He was delivering the keynote address at the launch of ‘ARTFAIR’ - a magazine of contemporary visual culture - here.
Elaborating, Mahapatra said Utkal University of Culture should go for a full-fledged faculty of art and culture encompassing three departments - Oriyan temple architecture and culture, traditional Orissan painting, including ‘pattachitra’, and tribal art.
“At present the work of the university is confined to some fringe art and cultural aspects. So it plays a marginal role in the State’s art and cultural concept,” observed Mahapatra. The Jnanpith awardee was decorated with Padma Vibhushan recently, also rued lack of promotional initiatives from the Government. “When I was Education secretary here, art and music were introduced in two major colleges. But after my departure, the initiative was allowed to die prematurely,” he recalled. The government should introduce art and music as optional subjects in all the major colleges in the State.