IGNCA Marks Foundation Day with Two Days of Celebrations

NEW DELHI:
Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA) , an autonomous institution under the Union Ministry of Culture, is marking its 28th Foundation Day on November 19 with two-days of celebrations.
The annual celebrations of the centre, launched on November 19, 1987 by the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, include performances and talks besides film screening and an art exhibition by contemporary artists at the IGNCA’s premises.
“Every year the foundation day is marked by talks and performances by eminent personalities. This year, in addition, will also see the relaunch of Vihangama, the magazine of IGNCA which was last published in 2012. There will also be release of other publications brought out by us,” said IGNCA Programme Director, Dr Mangalam Swaminathan.
On the inaugural day B P Singh, the former Governor of Sikkim will deliver a lecture on ‘Culture and Peace.’ The scholar and thinker has authored several articles and books including ‘The Bahudha Approach’, which outlines a path towards a harmonious world as against the clash of civilisations. The session will be chaired by author Shri Suryakant Bali.
Rajiv Malhotra, an internationally known researcher, writer, speaker on current affairs as they relate to civilizations, cross-cultural encounters, religion and science will deliver the concluding day lecture on November 20. The session will be chaired by Ram Bahadur Rai, President IGNCA.
Music concerts by Carnatic vocalist Abhishek Raghuram, who is the grandson of mridangam legend Palghat R Raghu and Dhrupad maestro Pandit (Prof) Ritwik Sanyal are lined up for the two days.
“IGNCA will inaugurate a Classical music series, ‘Bhinna Shadaj’ which will feature one senior artist every month. The series will open with a dhrupad recital on the morning of November 20 by Prof Ritwik Sanyal,” the director said.
Besides these the centre will also screen a film on ‘Leela in Kheriya’, which is a symbol of India’s abiding faith in secular traditions. A dance drama on “Ganga’ depicting the descent of the Ganges on earth is also a part of the line up of events.
Established in the memory of Indira Gandhi, the late Indian Prime Minister, with Kapila Vatsyayan as its Founding Director, IGNCA is a repository of academic resources in the form of books, photographs, audio-visual material and digital format for the study of ‘The Arts,’ the term understood in all its connotations.
The area of IGNCA’s mandate includes the oral, aural, the written, and the narrative traditions of India, the fairs and festivals, the lifestyles of communities, the classic and the conte
mporary, the traditional and the folk cultures of India.