Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar announced here on Saturday that the annual assistance being given to professional theatre companies in the State would be increased to Rs. 5 lakh.
He was addressing a gathering during the presentation of the Karnataka Nataka Academy awards for 2011-12 and 2012-13 at a function held at R.N. Shetty Kalyanmantap here on Saturday night.
His announcement was in response to an appeal by Minister for Kannada and Culture Govind M. Karjol for increasing the annual assistance.
Mr. Shettar said that since there were only 24 professional theatre companies active in the State, there was a need to encourage them and provide them assistance.
He said steps would be taken immediately to increase the annual assistance.
Naming of Town Hall
The Chief Minister also announced that the Town Hall in Hubli would be renovated and named after theatre personality N. Basavaraj, better known as Gudageri Basavaraj.
He also said that if a trust was formed in the name of the theatre personality, he would release Rs. 50 lakh for construction of an auditorium in his memory at his native village Gudageri near Hubli.
Pension
Mr. Shettar said he would try to increase the pension for senior artistes, which was at present Rs. 1,000 a month.
Earlier, addressing the gathering, Mr. Karjol talked about the initiatives taken by the department to promote art and encourage artistes.
Mr. Shettar said under the ‘Kayakalpa’ scheme, professional theatre companies were being extended annual assistance of Rs. 25,000, which needed to be increased. He appealed to the Chief Minister to increase the assistance to Rs. 5 lakh and also told him that he would not seek additional funds as the academy had the requisite funds.
Awards
As many as 36 artistes, writers and others connected with professional theatre were conferred the Karnataka Nataka Academy awards for 2011-12 and 2012-13.
In addition, 10 persons who rented out theatre paraphernalia were honoured during the programme.
