The 9th State Conference of A.P. Praja Natya Mandali will be held at Rajahmundry from June 13 to 16. Over 500 delegates from all over Andhra Pradesh are expected to participate in the four-day conference.
Addressing a media conference here on Monday, Praja Natya Mandali State president Puli Sambasiva Rao said that the Government should immediately announce a definite ‘policy on culture’ and allocate the requisite funds to protect our dying traditional folk arts. Many of the folk art forms like ‘Veedhi Bhagothalu’, ‘Burra Kadha’, ‘Chakka Bhajanalu’, ‘Kolatalu’ and ‘Tappetagullu’, the basis for modern art forms, were on the verge of extinction.
It was unfortunate that the traditional folk arts, which used to have immense patronage of the people in the good old days, were no longer in a position to sustain thousands of artistes, who were dependent on them. Competitions should be organised in various folk art forms on the lines of ‘Nandi Natakotsavalu’ to keep them alive, he suggested.
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While thanking the State Government for revising the old-age pensions being given to artistes, Mr. Sambasiva Rao demanded timely remittance of pension amounts.