LAHORE: The Punjab Council of Arts (PUCAR) will hold a grand Talent Hunt Programme in the disciplines of visual art, music, theatre, crafts and literature to promote the emerging stars.

“A budget of Rs60 million has been set aside for the project and handsome cash prizes will be given to three top position-holders in each category,” PUCAR Executive Director Muhammad Abrar Alam told Dawn.

The programme, he said, was likely to be held in the second week of September and all Covid SOPs would be ensured. It had been designed with the specific theme of “75th Anniversary of Pakistan.” Each cultural event, he said, would focus on this theme.

The programme would have competitions in six disciplines; music would feature national songs, Sufiana Kalam and folk songs. The age group for all disciplines would be 16 to 40 years. Other disciplines include Visual Art, Crafts, Literature (Creative Writing), Theatre and Folk Dances.

The competitions would be held at the district, divisional and provincial levels in each cultural discipline.

Alam said crafts involved a high degree of “hands-on” craftsmanship. “There are many types of crafts like embroidery, weaving, wood-carving, wood-turning, cabinet-making, furniture-making, earthenware, stoneware, porcelain, basket-weaving, doll-making, floral design, jewelry-making, knife-making (cutler), leather-work, metal work, model-making and toy-making,” he said.

The positions-holders at the district level would be invited to show their works at the divisional level. Finally, the provincial grand finale would be organised in Lahore in which the winners of the first three positions would get big prize money.

Each event would provide an opportunity to artisans to market their items and earn livelihood.

The literature competition will be in the form of creative writing. Competitions in creative writing will focus on the theme and the writers will be at liberty to express their views in the form of essay, ghazal or poem. Competitions for theatre performance will be held at the district, divisional and provincial levels.

The folk dances have a rich heritage and after audition of folk dances at the tehsil level, competitions for folk dance groups will be held at the district, divisional and provincial levels.

First prize at the district level will be Rs20,000, at divisional level Rs25,000 and at the provincial level Rs200,000. Second prize at district level will be Rs15,000, at divisional level Rs20,000 and at the provincial level Rs150,000. Similarly, third prize at district level will be Rs10,000, at divisional level Rs15,000 and at the provincial level Rs100,000.

For theatre and folk dances the first prize at the district level will be Rs40,000, at divisional level Rs60,000 and at the provincial level Rs200,000. Second prize at district level will be Rs35,000, divisional level Rs50,000 and the provincial level Rs150,000.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2021