LAHORE: The Punjab Council of the Arts (PCA) is taking some new initiatives to promote art and cultural activities at a fast pace, including setting up art councils in 18 more districts of the province and empowering them through boards of governors. It has also scheduled some programmes for children all over Punjab.

PCA Executive Director Dr Syed Bilal Haider told Dawn the council took visual art as an important entity and started calligraphy and painting classes in all the divisional and district art councils.

“The council is also trying to expand its offices for a better and comprehensive promotion of art and cultural activities. That’s why establishment of a new art councils in the first phase are being done in Jhang, Vehari, Muzaffargarh, Mianwali, Chakwal and Rahim Yar Khan while in second phase, the work has been started to establish arts councils in remaining 18 districts,” Mr Haider said.

To empower divisional and district arts councils, including the financial matters, establishment of boards of management in all councils had been introduced while a public-private partnership model had been introduced for first time in arts councils in the form of a board of management that will set the long-term and short-term goals for the arts councils, he added.

“Entrepreneurship is also being implemented to provide interest-free loans to students from art and culture disciplines, artisans and artists to do business in the cultural industry and to keep the dying art skills alive.”

Mr Haider said a cinema in Murree, under the local arts council, had been restored and the Murree Museum and Art Gallery had been established there. The arts council, he added, had signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with 22 universities that had the departments of art and culture for innovative and research-based work for the promotion of art and culture.

He said efforts were being made to preserve and practice dying music instruments and dying music art skills. The introduction of visual art classes would be a game-changer for smaller cities, which had immense talent among the youth, especially both in visual and performing arts.

Dr Haider said that a talent hunt programme in music from district to provincial level would also be introduced and the age bracket for the talent hunt would be 12-18 years and 18-25 years. The programme would be unveiled from the second week of February.

To this question that what council was doing regarding the reintroduction of its dance ensemble which no more existed now, Haider said the council had started classes in all divisions and districts of performing arts, including those of Kathak and acting, and hoped that the possibility of having a dance troupe on a permanent basis might be considered in the future.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2024