As India takes over the presidency of the prestigious G20 from Dec 1, Archaeological Survey of India of Ministry of Culture illuminated 100 monuments with G20 logo across India from 1st December to 7th December.
Humayun Tomb, New Delhi
Red Fort, New Delhi
Purana Qila, New Delhi
Qutub Minar, New Delhi
Golconda Fort, Hyderabad
Shankaracharya Temple, Jammu & Kashmir
Ramappa Temple, Telangana
Sree Virupaksha Temple, Hampi, Karnataka
Nalanda Mahavihara , Bihar
Ministry of Culture partners with Kathakar under Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav to take storytelling among the people India should be proud of its cultural heritage and storytelling is part of Indian tradition: Smt Meenakshi Lekhi
Smt Meenakshi Lekhi, Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture graced the 15th edition of Kathakar and State level Delhi finals of Vade Bharatam at Central Vista, India Gate today.
This year Kathakar partners with Ministry of Culture under Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav and the event took place at Amphitheatre Central Vista India Gate from 4pm to 7:30 pm as Kalanjali.
The festival Kathakar showcased in its pristine physical form amazing stories and music by Indian and International storytellers from several countries including United Kingdom; Australia; Mongolia; Sierra Leonne; and India.
In the Vande Bharatam state level finals of Delhi, 165 participants including 25 walk ins participated today. The State level selection of Vande Bhartam Nritya Utsav-2023 dancing artists came from Delhi Noida, Ghaziabad and Meerut . The participants were in 18 dancing groups and 19 solos. A large number of spectators watched the competition and appreciated the performances.
On the occasion Smt Meenakshi Lekhi said that the process of selecting dance groups for the Republic Day National celebrations has been made more transparent broad-based involving Jan Bhagidari which is the vision of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. She also said that India should be proud of its cultural heritage and storytelling is part of Indian tradition and Kathakar celebrates this tradition. She said that sabka saath and sabka pryas will make India a developed country and Vande Bharatam aims to enhance Jan Bhagidari.
‘Vande Bharatam’ is a dance competition event being organized by the Ministry of Culture on behalf of Ministry of Defence, under the aegis of Republic Day Celebration-2023.
It has been decided in consultation with the Ministry of Defence that the theme for the Vande Bharatam Event to be showcased on 26th January, 2023 at Kartavya Path, New Delhi will be ‘Naari Shakti’ which is one of themes for the Republic Day Parade-2023. The Vande Bharatam Nritya Utsav is being organized by Ministry of Culture to select around 500 participants from all across the country who would be part of a special choreographed presentation during the Republic Day Celebration, 2023 on the above theme.
The target dates for submission of entries by the participating individuals/ groups were prescribed between 15th October to 10th November, 2022. The entries were required to be submitted on MyGov.in Portal in the age group of 17 to 30 years in the genres of folk/ tribal, classical and contemporary fusion art forms. A total of 1201 entries (consisting of total 4112 groups/ individual artists) have been received during the prescribed period. It has also been decided to allow the walk in performances during the State finals.
State level finals for Tripura ; Bihar and Jharkhand; Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have been completed . State level final competition for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana will be held at Hyderabad tomorrow in which 197 participants from the States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana would perform. Union Culture Minister Shri G.K Reddy will grace the occasion as Chief Guest.
The art of storytelling in India has many forms and utilizes many mediums. Despite differences in settings, genres, or cultures, all stories ultimately aim to convey something universal. They serve both an educational and entertainment purpose for audiences. It's clear that different sections of India's culture has its own distinct approach to storytelling. Puppets, dance, or even musical instruments are used as props to help the narrator make storytelling more impactful. Hence, Kathakar, the sole celebration of India's rich oral storytelling tradition, which was started under the umbrella of Ghummakkad Narain Travelling Literature Festival was launched in 2010.
Kathakar 2022—a marquee event to revive the traditional style of storytelling in a world dominated by hi-tech gizmos and gadgets—will thus feature professional and passionate storytellers from the country and abroad who will showcase their mesmerizing craft to underscore the fact that storytelling cuts across all boundaries of language and culture.
Since its inception, the festival so far has been addressed by prominent personalities including former President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, Sadhguru Vasudev Jaggi, Dr Shashi Tharoor, Manoj Bajpayee, Vishal Bhardwaj, Pankaj Tripathi, Shantanu Moitra, Imtiaz Ali, Margaret Alva, Sunil Shastri, Nandita Das, Sushma Seth, among others.
Updated: Jan 8, 2023
Cop27 opens in Egypt Climate crisis is still taboo subject at art and heritage institutions. As the latest UN Climate Change Conference opens in Egypt, art institutions have yet to take the climate lessons to heart
Pritish Bagdi
Daniel Fleck
On 6 November, the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference, Cop27, opens in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. The location is telling: never before has a Cop summit taken place in a country so intimately connected to ancient antiquities, from the pyramids to the Sphinx and the tomb of Tutankhamun, all of which face growing threats from harsher weather, hotter temperatures and rising seas. Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s former minister of state for antiquities affairs, warns that virtually all open-air archaeological sites in Egypt are at serious risk. “In my view, in 100 years, all these antiquities will be gone because of climate change,” he says. At Cop27, delegates will consider whether museums should move away from their historic position of “climate neutrality” and towards climate action. But is the debate still necessary? In 2021 the American Alliance of Museums commissioned a study that found museums ranked second only to friends and family as a trusted source, and significantly ahead of scientists, NGOs, the media, the government and businesses. Should this store of trust be deployed for the common good? Robert Janes is a researcher at the School of Museum Studies in Leicester and was editor-in-chief of the Museum Management and Curatorship journal from 2003 to 2014. In the online publication The Beam, he writes: “Why is the global museum community not confronting climate change with its collective will and intelligence? One explanation is that climate change is a taboo subject—not to be talked about with family, friends and colleagues.” This taboo must be demolished. “Radical changes are needed across society to ensure global heating remains below 1.5°C,” says Rodney Harrison, the professor of heritage studies at University College London. “Museums could play a leading role in these transformations, but they can only do so if they make significant changes to the way they operate and communicate.” “The frustrating thing is—this is all already agreed,” says Henry McGhie, founder of climate consultancy Curating Tomorrow. “The governments of all the countries that are party to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change [UNFCCC] and Paris Agreement already recognise this. They have adopted a new programme, but this doesn’t seem to have bled down to the workings of many museums. We have a golden opportunity to act on climate change as a sector, but we’re not making use of it.” Beyond the Cop summits, the UN also played host to Mondiacult (the Unesco World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development) in Mexico City this September. Held 40 years after the first Mondiacult conference, it focused purely on Unesco’s cultural policy, and how that relates to globally agreed sustainable development and climate change policies.
Powerful signal Speaking at Mondiacult, Audrey Azoulay, the director-general of Unesco, recognised that “despite progress, culture still does not have the place it deserves in public policies and international cooperation,” even though it plays a “fundamental role” in our lives. She welcomed the Mondiacult decision that culture should be included “as a specific objective in its own right” among the United Nations’ sustainable development goals. It was, she said, “a powerful signal” and “a commitment to action.” Ernesto Ottone Ramirez, Unesco’s assistant director-general for culture and a former culture minister for Chile, told The Art Newspaper: “All ministers agreed we should leverage culture as part of sustainable development and environmental issues.” However, some commentators believe Mondiacult could have done much more. “It asked for culture to be operationalised in the UNFCCC, but that already exists,” says McGhie. “Rather than expecting other policy areas to change to incorporate culture, cultural policy should be much more overt about its role in existing agreements. This is a typical situation where policy development is not backed up with clear action.” A new definition for museums was agreed at the annual meeting of the International Council of Museums in Prague in August 2022. Climate action was not included in the definition. The debate, then, continues, even as the pyramids crumble.
