Rural hubs to promote art, culture

Rural art hubs will be set up at various parts of the State to encourage art and cultural activities, Minister for Culture A.K. Balan has said.

He was speaking after inaugurating the 61st anniversary celebrations of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi here on Tuesday.

The Minister also presented the akademi’s life-time achievement awards to C.R. Omanakuttan, Lalitha Lenin, Jose Punnamparambil, P.K. Parakkadavu, and Pooyappilly Thankappan. The Minister hailed the contributions of the award winners in their respective fields.

The government had earmarked funds in the budget for ‘Santhosha Bhavanam,’ a rehabilitation project for needy artistes, the Minister said.

An honorarium of ₹10,000 for 1,000 rural artistes and cultural centres, each costing ₹50 lakh and named after important cultural leaders, in every district were among the other important projects in the cultural sector.

Memorials

A memorial would be built for writer Punathil Kunhabdulla at Vadakara at ₹1 crore, the Minister added.

“The budget has also earmarked ₹1 crore for the O.V. Vijayan memorial at Thasrak and ₹10 crore for the Kumaran Asan National Institute of Culture at Thonnakkal. Procedures have been started for a film city, a permanent theatre complex for the International Film Festival of Kerala and film archives,” Mr. Balan said.

Sahitya Akademi president Vyshakhan presided.

Writer C. Radhakrishnan delivered keynote address.