Centre urges artists to join Culture Ministry’s FoI cell to boost India’s culture abroad

• Festivals of India (FoI) are part of the strategy to focus on the country's cultural ties and are conducted by MoC's all over the world
• The Centre has invited proposals from individuals and agencies from different states in various fields like-theatre, food, dance, folk arts, exhibitions, music, performing arts, Yoga demonstrations, workshops and literary festivals to register with FoIs cell
• The FoI Cell of the ministry will administer the coming applications from agencies and individuals

In an effort to showcase the cultural flair and rich traditions of the country, the government is all set to expand its ambit of artists and performers from different regions who can participate in the festivals organised abroad to boost country's soft power globally.

Festivals of India (FoIs) are the part of the initiative that aims to focus on the country's cultural ties and are conducted by Ministry of Culture (MoC) across the world. FoIs are organized by the Indian Missions residing in foreign countries.

The Culture Ministry has called agencies or persons from the fields of art like dance, music, theatre, films, food, literary festival, Yoga demonstration, Folk Arts, Performing Arts, Exhibitions, and workshops etc. to step up and enroll with the FoI cell, which was revived by the Ministry in 2013.

Quoting a source, India Today reported that at present there are only 185 names lying with the ministry who have been going to perform overseas for a while.

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An official said, "There are hundreds or thousands of performers we have in our country who can really make us proud internationally. This initiative will help us achieve that."

Talking about the lack of artists from North Eastern states, the official added that there was no cultural representation from the region, in spite of it being the state with rich cultural heritage.

A statement released by the ministry read as, "We have already welcome proposals from artists, performers, and desirous agencies to empanel with the Festivals of India (FoI) cell online so that they can be sent abroad to exhibit their talent. With that, the old list of existing artists will also get overhauled and fresh names can be brought-in the category," quoted India Today.

An official press release states that all those who want to register and participate in various festivals should visit the following website: http://www.indiaculture.nic.in/ and provide details of the performances in prescribed format within the given time to the FoI Cell of the ministry. A summary of the event and performance with their links would also be included.

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In addition, the hard copy should also be submitted and posted to the address: Ministry of Culture, Festival of India Cell – ICR Division,Central Secretariat Library, 1st Floor, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi-110001. And a soft copy in MS Word format needs to be sent by email at foicell-culture@gov.in

The FoI Cell of the ministry will manage and administer the flow of applications from agencies and individuals. The cell will also detail about probable aspects like the venue, budget requirements and handling of cargo among others to the participants.

-prepared by Aparna Gupta, an intern with NewsGram. Twitter @writetoaparna99

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