Artists protest over shifting of Akademi office

SHILLONG, MAR 26: Artists from Meghalaya under the banner of the Meghalaya Artists’ Forum (MAF) staged a silent protest on Tuesday to show their anguished over the decision to shift the office of the Lalit Kala Akademi out of Shillong.

Earlier, three apex national institutions of literary, performing and visual arts were located in Shillong to cater to the north eastern region. However, the Sahitya Akademi and Sangeet Natak Akademi were shifted out of Shillong  few years ago.

And now, there is a move to shift the office of the  third and only art institution Lalit Kala Akademi out of Shilling and the artists fraternity of the State are not amused.

The artists complaints that the Lalit Kala Akademi, which have been functioning since 2007 in Shillong, is already in the process of closure due which expose the isolation of the region from the mainstream art circle.

The people in the arts circle also claims that the annual National Art Camp held in Shillong is more of a ritual than a conviction to connect the region with the rest of the country.

The MAF members reveals that the Lalit Kala Akademi had sought a site for infrastructure development from the Meghalaya government and accordingly the latter offered a plot of land beside the National Highway 44 which is located at the junction entering the Shillong city. The land isis sprawling site of the Tribal Research Centre, Mawlai Nongkwar.

But the Lalit Kala Akademi authorities are reluctant to take this land and instead wanted the land at Brookside area located at  Rilbong. The conflict over land between the Lalit Kala Akademi and the state government delayed the process of getting a permanent land for development of the infrastructure of the Lalit Kala Akademi in Shillong.

The MAF has approached the the Lalit Kala Academi authority in Delhi and the state Government to ensure that the regional office of Lalit Kala Akademi must remain in Shillong. – By Our Reporter