Sangeet Natak Akademi

Sangeet Natak Akademi

Abbreviation	SNA
Formation	31 May 1952
Headquarters	Rabindra Bhawan, Ferozeshah Road, New Delhi, India
Website	SNA official website: sangeetnatak.org

Sangeet Natak Akademi (Devanāgarī: संगीत नाटक अकादेमी or The National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama in English) is the national level academy for performing arts set up by the Government of India.

History

It was set up by the Indian education ministry in 31 May 1952 and became functional the following year, with the appointment of its first chairman, Dr. P. V. Rajamannar. Dr Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India, inaugurated it on 28 January 1953 in a special function held in the Parliament House. The academy's Fellowship and Award are considered very prestigious.

Functions

Rabindra Bhawan, Delhi which houses the Sangeet Natak Akademi, Lalit Kala Akademi and Sahitya Akademi.

The academy functions as the apex body of the performing arts in the country to preserve and promote the vast cultural heritage of India expressed in music, dance and drama. It also works with governments and art academies in states and territories of the country.

SNA established several institutions over the years:

Manipur Dance Academy, Imphal^[1]
Sattriya Centre
Kathak Kendra (National Institute of Kathak Dance), New Delhi in 1964
Ravindra Rangshala

Centers:^[2]

Centre for Kutiyattam, Thiruvananthapuram, a national projects in the support of Kuttiyattam (the age-old Sanskrit theatre of Kerala)
Chhau Centre, Baripada/ Jamshedpur
Northeast Centre

In addition, the Akademi

Subsidizes the work of institutions engaged in teaching, performing or promoting music, dance, or theatre
Gives grants to aid research, documentation and publishing in the performing arts
Organizes and subsidizes seminars and conferences of subject specialists
Documents and records the performing arts for its audio-visual archive
Renders advice and assistance to the government of India in the task of formulating and implementing policies and programmes in the field
Carries a part of the responsibilities of the state for fostering cultural contacts between regions in the country, as well as between India and the world
Organises its annual festival of music, dance and theatre in NCT Delhi.^[3]

The facilities

The academy is an important source of information and offers the following facilities.

The audio-visual archive

The academy's audio-visual archive has several audio/video tapes, photographs and films. It is the largest archive of its kind in the country and is extensively drawn upon by the India for research on the performing arts of India.

The library

The academy maintains a reference library consisting of about 22,000 books.

Books on several subjects including Dance, Drama, Music, Theatre, Sociology, Folklore, Tribal Studies, Indian History and Culture, Indian Art, Religion and Epics, Mythology, Anthropology and Reference works such as Encyclopedias, Dictionaries, Yearbooks, Bibliographies, Indexes and Newspaper clippings about Academy Awards and eminent artistes in the field of performing arts, can be found here.

The library maintains data files on awardees and fellows of the academy since its inception (1953) and along with those on other eminent personalities of the field.

Gallery of musical instruments

The academy has a museum-cum-gallery of musical instruments in Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi. There are more than 200 musical instruments on display here.

Documentation unit

It has a documentation unit that collects and records works of masters in the field of music, dance and theatre on audio and video to help researchers. The academy produces several in-house publications.

Award and Fellowship