The Tamil Nadu government would like to partner with composer A.R. Rahman to set up a music museum in Chennai. Mr. Rahman had last week said government support was needed to set up such a facility.
“The best music museum is in Paris. They are ready to sign an MoU [with us]. A.R. Rahman is very conceptually strong. At the French music museum, they also have music classes. Every year, about 10 million people visit that museum. We had around 13 lakh visitors this year. If we set up the music museum here, the footfalls will easily cross 1 crore,” Minister for Tamil Official Language and Tamil Culture Ma Foi K. Pandiarajan told The Hindu.
At Tiruvaiyaru
He said one gallery could be dedicated to it at the Egmore Museum, though the initial idea was to create the music museum at Tiruvaiyaru.
“We can set up more galleries. We can vacate two galleries and secure about 5,000 sq. ft. for the music museum at Egmore,” he said, adding that if Mr. Rahman provided the concept and creative component, the government would be able to arrange the space.
Lake inside
There are also plans to develop a lake inside the Egmore Museum premises on about five acres, and allow boating, a move that is also expected to increase the number of visitors to the museum.
“There was a lake [in the complex] earlier. It’s near the place where the rare bats are present. We want to set up a sculpture park around the lake and allow boating in the lake,” Mr. Pandiarajan said.
The Minister said that a structure present on the land was being removed for the purpose.
“It was constructed as a [residential] quarters for employees. Almost 50 years back, there was boating there and then these buildings were allowed to come up on the lake. But there’s about five acres remaining now and that’s good enough for a model,” Mr. Pandiarajan said.