Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 21: Deputy Chief Minister Dr. Nirmal Singh inaugurated a five-day long International Art Festival of India at Kala Kendra, here today. Enhance Group will organize this festival in nine states of the country from July to December, 2016.
Minister of State for Culture & Tourism Priya Sethi, MLA Jammu (East) Rajesh Gupta, Secretary Kala Kendra, Soujanya Sharma and Curator Anant Vikas were present in the festival.
Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Chief Minister said that the aim behind organizing this festival is to promote art, culture and heritage of the country, besides inspiring a rich exchange of ideas, creativity and culture among the budding artists. Efforts would be made to make the city of temples a hub of cultural activities, he added.
The Deputy CM said that Government has started work on various prestigious projects for promoting tourism and culture in the State including Tawi river front view, Artificial lake, Gandola Project, Mubarak Mandi Heritage Complex and Raghunath Bazar.
Dr Singh further said that concerted efforts are on to promote and showcase the rich cultural heritage of the State to attract tourists. Apart from promoting art and artists, there is dire need to educate young generation about the art and its cause, he added.
This festival is an attempt to promote the art internationally and it is an endeavour to endorse friendship, humanity, compassion and understanding between the people of diverse culture of the globe, the Deputy CM reiterated, adding that, this festival would be conducted in Kashmir next year.
Priya Sethi said that this art exhibition is an attempt to give a viable platform to budding artists and nurture their talent.
She said that directions have been given to the Education Department to make cultural clubs and committees in schools for educating the students about local art. She said that the educational institutions would be involved in the festival so that they get a unique opportunity of interacting with the artists of international repute.
During the event, the SPANDAN Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Raj Bharti, SPANDAN Social Awards were presented to Amrik Singh Namdhari, Bhushan Kesar and Rita Jitendra for rendering their selfless service to the society. A brochure of National Art Exhibition – “SPANDAN Art… Collective Extravaganza” was also released on the occasion.
The artists hailing from various parts of the country are displaying their talent in the festival. The prominent artists from Jammu including Anjali Bharti, Ankush Kesar, Ashwani Jamwal, Harpreet Kour, Manoj Chopra, Milan Sharma, Mohinika, Narinder Kumar, Rajinder Pal Singh, Rakesh Sharma, Reecha Gupta, Renu Bala, Risha Singh, Rohit Verma, Sahil Ohri, Shivali Jamwal, Suman Gupta, Suneel Dutt, Suresh Sharma and TS Batra are participating in the festival.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
