It must be underscored that PNCA’s shortcomings are not due to bad management or financial crisis, but over-management
LAHORE: This is in response to Niilofer Farrukh’s article “The National Art Gallery: a crisis of commitment”. I will say that I second the writer. The National Art Gallery (NAG) should be salvaged from the shadows of its parent organisation — the Pakistan National Council of Arts (PNCA).
It must be underscored that the PNCA’s shortcomings are not due to bad management or a financial crisis, but because of over-management. As an apex cultural body, it has grown over time, its various wings are yet flocked together under one roof under the centralised control of the director general. So the breathing space that is essential for each art form to grow is being encroached upon and every customer goes unhappy. The institution requires an overhauling before it can begin to play its role in national development.
The writer of the article also refers to the arbitrary handing over of the Liaquat Memorial Hall to the NCA Rawalpindi, a point that I would like to clarify. Surely, the loss of Liaquat Memorial Hall is a serious blow to the outreach of the PNCA — now restricted to the exclusive audience of Islamabad. It was a mutual understanding between the NCA and the PNCA that the NCA Rawalpindi campus will move to Islamabad, and the Liaquat Memorial Hall will be handed back to PNCA to restart its operations — to give expression to the artists of Rawalpindi and Potohar. And that the citizens of Rawalpindi should be given space for cultural interaction. Since 2005, the National Puppet Theater has been allowed to stay as the part of Liaquat Memorial Hall on the NCA premises without a charge. Thus, the NCA has fulfilled its commitment of supporting the PNCA’s cause. The NCA is still hoping that as and when land is given to the NCA to shift its campus to Islamabad, PNCA will be able to reclaim the Liaquat Memorial Hall and send performing arts wing back to where it came from! It will create more space for other wings to grow, especially the NAG — physically at its present location in Islamabad.
I hope this conversation leads to a serious rethinking of our cultural policies and practices, which affects us all — across institutions — in Pakistan.
Nadeem Omar Tarar
Published in The Express Tribune, July 19th, 2014.
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