Some recogntition: 500 artists to be awarded Rs30,000

Singers, visual artists to continue receiving this amount for eight months


Our Correspondent January 13, 2016
PHOTO: FILE

PESHAWAR:


The list of 500 singers and visual artists — who will receive an award of Rs30,000 each for eight months — has been finalised, a Directorate of Culture official told The Express Tribune on Tuesday.


“This will not only support the artists who are going through difficult circumstances but will also encourage them in their efforts to serve [arts and] literature,” Culture Director Abdul Basit told The Express Tribune. 

Although the scheme is for eight months, the official said they cannot say anything about its extension. He added some of the young artists, who have made considerable contributions to the field of arts and literature, were also included in the list and they would be presented the monetary awards at the inaugural ceremony where all the 500 artists would be invited.

Picking up

A committee divided the artists into four categories – performing arts, literature, visual arts and musical instrument-makers. For the categories, four different committees were formed to select suitable candidates on the basis of their contribution to their respective fields and their services to culture.

The director said all four committees, comprising senior artists from the respective fields, gave recommendations to the main committee, which comprised renowned artists, including senior poet Layeq Zada Layeq and Abasin Yousufzai. This was done so the process becomes as transparent as possible.

Not a FATA grant

Some members of the committees criticised the exclusion of artists from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) from the list.

They said artists from the tribal areas were part of such schemes during previous governments.

Basit said they are only responsible to look after the artists of their own province. Those artists who have left the province or the country were not included in the list.

Some senior writers and artists were of the opinion that a large number of good artists should have been included in the list as there are no awards for those who are badly affected by terrorism and militancy.

“Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is a territory full of artists and singers,” Layeq said, who was part of the selection committee. “It will be very difficult to continue paying them such a huge amount.”

He added once the payment starts, artists will take to the streets in protest. Layeq said he has advised authorities to reduce the amount of the award to Rs10,000 so more artists could be included in the list.

The project will be inaugurated in a few days by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairperson Imran Khan at Chief Minister House.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13th, 2016.

COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ