Time to promote arts, culture in a big way in J&K: Kavinder

JAMMU:  As long lasting peace and prosperity have been reinstated in the Union Territory by the BJP-led centre, the need of the time is to promote arts and culture in a big way across Jammu and Kashmir as the same hold special relevance in the lives of people.

This was stated by senior BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Kavinder Gupta after felicitating the participants with certificate of participation of the 7-day Arts Camp, which culminated at the Institute of Music and Fine Arts, Poonch House Jammu on Wednesday. The camp was organised by Master Sansar Chand Baru Memorial Trust, which is working with great exuberance to promote the arts in the Union Territory with a dedicated team and stimulated efforts.

Kavinder Gupta was the Chief Guest at the valedictory function while Sanjita Dogra, President BJP Women wing was the guest of honour besides, Corporators Sanjay Baru and Neelam Nargotra were the special guests.

Artists namely Vijay Manikchand Dhore, Apurba Karati, Pooja Ganesh Mhatre, Bharat Bhushan Sharma, Durjan Singh Rana, Monica Sandeep Ghule, Kannu Behera, Banita Sahoo, Rajesh Kumar Singh, Suman Dongre, Mrinal Dey, Javaid Iqbal, Vijay Anand, Amit Anand and Chetna Anand from across the country participated in the camp. Mrinal Dey and Vijay Manikchand Dhore presented demonstrations.

The former Deputy Chief Minister said that arts and cultural heritage in J&K hold much significance because many professions were based here on craftsmanship and the region is known for the same far and wide. He said that the stakeholders therefore hold a big responsibility on their shoulders to help the souls here to quench their desires to continue with the work of arts as there are numerous fields in the region like painting, singing, dances, craftsmanship, etc where arts play a vital role.

Kavinder specifically mentioned that the IMFA building is in 17 kanals and there is a dire need to make auditoriums and create other facilities for the budding artists of Jammu and Kashmir to showcase their skills and mastery in the fields of arts, crafts and acting. He however expressed displeasure over the poor state of affairs of Jammu’s Kala Kendra as the same was raised for specially promoting the art and culture of J&K. He said that various factors had marred this endeavour and there is a need to focus on Kala Kendra so that the same could serve the purpose for which it was created and brought to existence.

The former deputy Chief Minister categorically applauded the efforts of Anuradha Rishi, Chairperson of Master Sansar Chand Baru Memorial Trust in imparting awareness about art among the youth of Jammu and Kashmir, and also for holding art camps from time to time.

Anuradha Rishi, while addressing the august gathering, threw light on the functioning of the Trust in preserving the rich art and culture which she termed the identity of a society. She said that the workshop is conducted with the aim to give impetus to the genre of art and to encourage the younger artists to explore their hidden talent. She expressed gratitude to everyone for making this art workshop successful and assured to hold the same in near future also.

Rakesh Sharma, HoD Applied Arts IMFA was also present.