PIB Backgrounders

Backgrounder

The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) was established in March 1987 in the memory of Late Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi. It is an Autonomous Body under Ministry of Culture with the following objectives and mandate:-

i. to serve as a major resource centre for the arts, especially primary material, written oral, auditory, audio-visual, pictorial, etc.;

ii. to undertake research and publication programmes of reference works, glossaries, dictionaries, encyclopedias, fundamental texts in the arts, humanities and cultural heritage;

iii. to establish tribal and folk arts collection for undertaking, promoting and facilitating systematic scientific studies in this area;

iv. to provide a forum for creative and critical dialogue among the diverse arts ranging from architecture and literature to music, dance, theatre, sculpture, painting, photography, films, pottery, puppetry, weaving, embroidery, etc. through performances, exhibitions, multi-media projections, conferences, seminars, workshops;

v. to evolve models of research programmes and administration of arts more pertinent to the Indian ethos and reality;

vi. to promote awareness of and sensitivity to the historical and cultural interaction and interlinkages between India and other parts of the world in the evolution and manifestation of art and cultural traditions and through this endeavour to promote international goodwill and peace;

vii. to facilitate and promote systematic scientific understanding of the formative and dynamic factors in the complex web of cultural interaction between diverse communities, regions, social strata, etc., and to make through this endeavour a strong rational base for mutual understanding of the role of different cultures and traditions in promoting fundamental values of human welfare such as tolerance, cooperation, aesthetic enrichments, etc.;

viii. to make efforts to bridge the gap in the intellectual understanding between the modern sciences on the one hand and the arts, culture, traditional skills and knowledge on the other;

ix. to develop linkages with other national and international centres of arts and culture and to affiliate with universities and other academic organizations of higher learning within India or abroad for the conduct and recognition of research in art, humanities and cultural heritage.

The details of all the programmes of the IGNCA are available in the website www.ignca.nic.in.

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