LAHORE, June 4: The Lahore Arts Council is collecting data on entertainers and performers in various branches of performing arts not only for swift programming at Alhamra Art Center but also for a fair evaluation of those seeking financial assistance from the council, officials told Dawn on Monday.

They said under the initiative launched on the directives of culture secretary Muhayyudin Wani, the Lahore-based artistes would have to fill a form mentioning details about their professional skills, address etc. The form covers all visual and performing arts including music, drama, literature and fine arts. Through the data to be collected through these forms, the council would find it convenient to access the artistes for swift programming, the officials added.

They said these forms would also be helpful in granting financial assistance to needy artistes.

The record once compiled would also facilitate scrutiny of the applications for financial assistance, so that genuine cases could be sifted, they said.

The council would no longer be sending paper invites and contact the required artiste through SMS or e-mail, they added.

Deputy Director Programmes Chauhdry Asif told Dawn that the council would also upload that data on its website that would be launched in a month’s time.

He said the initiative would be advertised in the print media so that the artistes interested in working with the arts council could be informed about it. Those who would not be providing the required data would be ignored for different programmes organised by the council, he added.

“After the advertisement we will give a month’s time to the artistes to fill the forms and submit them to the council. In fact we want to form a fraternity of Lahore-based artistes and would like to include only genuine people”, he added.

The deputy director, further elaborating the idea, said the council had plans to compile a directory of all Lahore-based artistes at a later stage.

He said the initiative would eliminate the role of middlemen and councils in artistes’ promotion and providing them livelihood. After the compilation of data those interested in contacting artistes for various programmes would be able to do so by directly approaching them.

Many performing art critics believe that the step should have been taken by the council much earlier as such a move would also help artistes get opportunities to frequently participate in different programmes held under the councils.