KARACHI, Sept 28: The idea of a cultural village in the heart of the city has been the talking point at five high-level meetings over the past two months.
The idea, which enjoyed a brief currency more than a decade ago, has again found favour with the Sindh government.
The vice-president of the Arts Council, Khushbakht Shujaat, told Dawn on Friday that the office-bearers of the Arts Council had held two meetings with Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad and three meetings with District Coordination Officer Mir Hussain Ali about the establishment of a cultural village comprising such historical buildings as the Fayzee Rahamin Art Gallery, the Arts Council of Pakistan, the Sindh Secretariat, etc.
“The idea is to establish a place where people could come and take part in cultural activities. They would listen to live concerts and eat good food. Since the project requires funds, a feasibility report is being prepared by the city government,” she explained.
Ms Shujaat said the paperwork about the project was almost complete. She hoped that the project would soon get off the ground.
Talking about the financial health of the Arts Council, she said the annual grant of the cultural body had recently been upped from Rs10,000 to Rs1 million.
Official sources told Dawn on Friday that while all the arts councils in Pakistan received Rs40,000 as annual grant from the federal government, they all got different grants from their provincial governments. “The Punjab government, for instance, gives Rs10 million to Alhamra which is the arts council in Lahore. The Quetta arts council, the Peshawar arts council and the Mehran arts council receive around Rs100,000 from the provincial governments. But the Karachi Arts Council used to receive only Rs10,000 from the Sindh government.”
The sources said the Arts Council had only two sources of income: booking of the premises and membership fees. “In order to make the premises so attractive that more people book them for functions, the arts council must renovate them. But the arts council does not have any money to do that.”
They added that every month the arts council had to pay the salary of some 25 employees which took away a major chunk of the annual grant.
“The reason why the Arts Council does not expand its infrastructure is that it is always beset with financial problems on a monthly basis. It was when the federal government and the provincial government came to the arts council’s rescue that the construction of the theatre on the premises has become possible.”
The Arts Council vice-president said the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation used to give Rs100,000 to the cultural body on an annual basis. “This annual payment stopped more than six years ago. But Karachi Nazim Naimatullah Khan restarted this grant some time back.”
Ms Shujaat said the Arts Council had a very good auditorium which had been a constant source of revenue. “But because the auditorium does not have a roof, it is not rented out in the daytime, winter and rains. The Sindh governor has recently given Rs250,000 to the Arts Council to build a roof over the auditorium,” she said.