Theatre institutions and research

NSD, Sangeet Natak Akademi, Zonal Cultural Centres and documenting a project.

Performing Arts5 questions
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National institutions

  • Sangeet Natak Akademi (New Delhi): the national academy of music, dance and drama, set up by the Government of India in 1952 and formally inaugurated in 1953. It preserves and promotes the performing arts, gives the Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards and Fellowships (Akademi Ratna), keeps archives, and runs units such as Kathak Kendra and the Jawaharlal Nehru Manipur Dance Academy.
  • National School of Drama (NSD) (New Delhi): India's leading theatre training institute, set up in 1959 by the Sangeet Natak Akademi and made an independent institution in 1975. It has a Repertory Company, a Theatre-in-Education Company for children, and organises the international theatre festival Bharat Rang Mahotsav.
  • Zonal Cultural Centres (ZCCs): seven centres set up by the Government of India in the mid-1980s to preserve and promote folk and traditional arts across states. They are the North (Patiala), North Central (Prayagraj), Eastern (Kolkata), North East (Dimapur), South (Thanjavur), South Central (Nagpur) and West (Udaipur) Zone Cultural Centres.

Documenting a theatre project

A research or documentation project studies a performance tradition, an artist or a production in an organised way.

  • Choose and define a topic and its aims (for example, a local Nautanki troupe).
  • Review existing sources: books, articles, recordings (secondary sources).
  • Field work: observe performances, interview artists and audiences, record audio, video and photographs (primary sources). Take informed consent and credit every contributor.
  • Organise data: transcribe interviews, label photos with date, place and names, and keep a field diary.
  • Analyse and write: present findings with an introduction, method, description, analysis and conclusion.
  • Cite all sources in a bibliography and add appendices (photos, scripts, notation).

Key points

  • SNA: 1952 (inaugurated 1953); national academy for music, dance, drama.
  • NSD: 1959; independent 1975; Bharat Rang Mahotsav.
  • Seven ZCCs; e.g. South Zone at Thanjavur, West Zone at Udaipur.
  • Primary sources = first-hand field data; secondary = published material.

Exam tips

  • Match each ZCC with its headquarters.
  • In research questions, interviews and recordings you make yourself are primary sources.

Practice questions

Which institution organises the Bharat Rang Mahotsav, an international theatre festival?Easy
How many Zonal Cultural Centres were set up by the Government of India?Easy
The South Zone Cultural Centre has its headquarters at:Medium
A student records interviews with Tamasha artists and photographs their performance for her project. In research terms,…Medium
The National School of Drama was set up in 1959 by which body, before becoming independent in 1975?Hard
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