Pakistani theater production team with Sesame Street and locally developed puppet characters. - Reuters Photo.

ISLAMABAD: The Capital city should be the cultural face of the country to attract the world through soft expressions of art, said Tauqeer Nasir, Director General Pakistan National Council of the Arts here Thursday.

Preservation and promotion of cultural heritage and traditional values maintain the identity of a nation and boosts the confidence of the young generation, he said while talking to APP in an interview.

With this aim, PNCA has doubled its cultural activities to contribute its services in the art scenes of the country and has arranged various traveling cultural programmes to benefit the rural communities and youth of slum area across the country.

The regular programmes of the country's largest art institution will help making Islamabad a cultural city that will create opportunities for both the established and amateur artistes to make their name in the fields of performing and visual arts. Tauqeer Nasir said that traveling cultural and puppets shows have been organized across the country in slum areas and different schools at every province to promote the cultural values among the young generation and deprived communities. Children and youngsters largely participate in the shows at Katchi Abadis as they have less quality entertainment opportunities with information about their traditions. To end the year 2011 with promoting arts, a three-week drama festival, Qawwali Festival and a retrospective exhibition to mark the death anniversary of legendary artist Ghulam Rasool will start from December 12 for highlighting the assets of rich culture and traditions of the country.

The PNCA organized various drama festivals during recent past to promote the trend of quality and thoughtful theater which plays an important role in highlighting and resolving the issues like education, training and social problems.

“Positive dramas for youth are the need of hour”, he said, adding that this effort will not only bring theater trend in twin cities but also give the message of peace, love and harmony and show Pakistanis as culture loving nation.

It will also be an opportunity for youth to explore the concepts and styles of traditional and contemporary stage artists and learn the techniques of acting, dialogue delivery and script.

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