IGNCA’S stage is not a small stage, it’s the pertinent stage of the world in the field of Art and Culture: Prahlad Singh Patel
New Delhi: The 36th foundation day of Indira Gandhi National centre for the Arts started today at Samvet auditorium of IGNCA, Janpath building. The chief guest of the event was Shri Prahlad Singh Patel, Minister of State for Food Processing Industries of India. The other eminent guests present at the event was Shri Anil Rasal Singh, Shri H. Satish, Shri Rajesh Choudhary, Shri Alok Jain, Trustee , IGNCA , Vasudev Kamath, Trustee , IGNCA , Dr. Sachichidanand Joshi , Member Secretary, IGNCA and Shri Vrihad Yagnik.
The celebrations began with lamp lighting and that was followed up by a performance by the first all women band of this country “Shri Janaki”. This band of women enthralled the audience with varied kinds of music which ranged from ‘Rabindra Sangeet’ to folk music followed up by a patriotic song. On this occasion an ‘International Photo Exhibition’ was also inaugurated which is curated by an organization named ‘Chitranjali’ and Parikshit Society. ‘Chitranjali’ was started as a tribute to Shri Mahendra Choudhary who dedicated his life to photojournalism. In this photo exhibition people of different nationalities have captured their own experiences of “Tiranga Yatra” (Indian Flags Journey) in their camera with their own perspectives. In this exhibition the first 150 photographs have been displayed in this exhibition. In the past a photo competition was held by ‘Chitranjali’, ‘Parikshit’ society in collaboration with IGNCA based on the theme of ‘Har Ghar and Har Hath Tiranga’. The winners of the photo competition were declared and Shri Jignesh Prasad who hails from Karnataka won the first prize, second prize was won by Manvendra Vashist, of PTI New Delhi and third prize was won by Vishwanath Bag. On this occasion a coffee table book of the received entries for the competition and a table calendar beginning from March 2023 and ending with March 2024 was released on the occasion.
Shri Prahlad Singh Patel while speaking on the occasion extended his greetings to IGNCA on its 36th foundation day and also reiterated that this foundation day celebration of IGNCA is in sync with “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav”. He further congratulated the organizers, Dr. Sachichidannad Joshi, ‘Chitranjali’ and the women band ‘Shri Janki’ on their performance. Shri Patel in his address talked about IGNCA and said IGNCA’S stage is not a small stage it’s the pertinent stage of the world in the field of Art and Culture. He further elaborated on it and said that “Photography is the only art which captures the instant and memories in time which can’t be captured twice and IGNCA is promoting art of photography through such exhibition”.
Dr. Sachichidanand Joshi informed the guests and audience that through ‘Har Ghar and Har Hath Tiranga’ the fervor of patriotism was showcased by hoisting of 20 crore ‘Tiranga’ (Indian Tricolour Flag). Dr. Joshi also added that through Chitranjali and Parikshit Society, IGNCA was able to reach 42 lakh people not just restricted to our country but to seven different foreign countries.
Shri S. Satish an eminent photographer and the judge of the photo competition said that for an photographer and an artist three “H” are important, the first ‘H’ stands for the hand the second for the head and third ‘H’ for the heart and all these put together makes a holistic artist or a photographer for that matter. Shri Yagnik, an eminent photographer and the judge of the photo completion said that the moment he saw the coffee table book he decided that he was taking it back home for the fact that it is so well crafted . At the end of the inaugural session Dr. Achal Pandya, HoD, Conservation Division extended a formal vote of thanks.
The evening session of the first day of foundation day celebration ended with a Cultural performance “Divya Vivaah” which was conceptualized by Usha R. K. In the evening session a small film was screened in honour of Shri. O. P. Jain. The foundation day celebrations will go on till 24th, March.