- India
- Jun 11
Sangeet Natak Akademi announces annual awards and fellowships
• The Sangeet Natak Akademi announced the names of 108 artists for the Akademi Awards for 2024 and 2025.
• These eminent artists cover the entire gamut of the performing art forms expressed in the form of music, dance, drama, folk & tribal art, puppetry, and allied theatre art forms, etc.
• It also selected seven artists in the field of performing arts as Akademi Fellows.
• The General Council of the Akademi has also selected 106 young artists for Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar for the years 2024 and 2025. These awards will be conferred by the Chairman of Sangeet Natak Akademi in a special ceremony.
• 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.
• The Akademi’s Fellowship (Akademi Ratna) carries a cash prize of Rs 3 lakh and the Akademi Puraskar (Akademi Awards) carries a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh.
Sangeet Natak Akademi
• Sangeet Natak Akademi is the apex body in the field of performing arts in the country.
• It was created by a resolution notified in June 1952. The Akademi became functional the following year. The first President of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad, inaugurated it on January 18, 1953.
• It was set up for the preservation and promotion of the vast intangible heritage of India’s diverse culture expressed in forms of music, dance and drama.
• Sangeet Natak Akademi is an autonomous body of the ministry of culture and is fully funded by the government for implementation of its schemes and programmes.
• The functions of the Akademi are set down in the Akademi’s Memorandum of Association, adopted at its registration as a society on September 11, 1961.
• The registered office of the Akademi is at Rabindra Bhavan in New Delhi.
• 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 Akademi coordinates and collaborates with government and art academies of different states and Union Territories, as also with major cultural institutions in the country.
• Two constituent units of Sangeet Natak Akademi are dance-teaching institutions.
They are:
i) The Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy (JNMDA) at Imphal. JNMDA has its origin in the Manipur Dance College established by the government in April 1954. Funded by the Akademi since its inception, it became a constituent unit of the Akademi in 1957.
ii) Kathak Kendra in Delhi. It is one of the leading teaching institutions in Kathak dance. Located in Delhi, it offers courses at various levels in Kathak dance and in vocal music and Pakhawaj.
Besides the constituent units, the Akademi presently has five centres:
i) Kutiyattam (Koodiyattam) Kendra, Thiruvananthapuram for preserving and promoting the age-old Sanskrit theatre of Kerala.
ii) Sattriya Kendra, Guwahati for promoting the Sattriya traditions of Assam.
iii) North-East Centre, Guwahati for preserving the traditional and folk performing art traditions of north-eastern India.
iv) North-East Documentation Centre, Agartala for festival and field documentation in the northeast.
v) Chhau Kendra, Chandankiyari for promoting the Chhau Dances of eastern India.
• The Akademi’s archive, comprising audio and video tapes, photographs, and films is one of the largest in the country and is extensively drawn upon for research in the performing arts.
Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar
• Sangeet Natak Akademi instituted Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar in 2006 to be awarded to artists who have shown/demonstrated conspicuous talent in the fields of music, dance and drama.
• Young outstanding practitioners up to the age of 40 years are eligible to be considered for Yuva Puraskar every year.
• Age as on the date of nomination received will be reckoned from April 1 of that year.
• Each Yuva Puraskar carries a prize money of Rs 25,000 and a tamrapatra to be issued under the seal of Akademi and signature of its Chairman.
• A person who has received the Puraskar once will not be eligible for the same Puraskar under any other field/category.
• The total number of Yuva Puraskar in a year shall not exceed 33.
The Yuva Puraskar may be given in the following fields of activity:
1) Music
2) Dance
3) Theatre
4) Traditional / Folk / Tribal Dance/ Music/ Theatre and Puppetry
5) Contribution/Scholarship in Performing Arts.
Who was Ustad Bismillah Khan?
• Ustad Bismillah Khan was born on March 21, 1916 in Dumraon, Bihar. He moved to Banaras at the age of six to train under his uncle who was a shehnai player at the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.
• He transformed shehnai from a folk instrument played primarily at marriages in north India to a classical instrument of much impact and melody.
• He is recognised for his immaculate pitch perfection and impeccable execution of the meends, pukars, khatkas, murkis, zamzamas, taans and gamaks.
• Ustad Bismillah Khan had the rare honour of playing the shehnai on the eve of India’s independence in the year 1947.
• He became the third classical musician to have been awarded the Bharat Ratna in 2001.
• He passed away on August 21, 2006.