Uttar Pradesh government to engage in talent hunt through 'Sanskriti Utsav'

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], December 7 : Uttar Pradesh government is set to organise 'Sanskriti Utsav 2023' from December 25 to January 26, aiming to preserve the rich artistic traditions of the state, encourage artists belonging to different genres of art to pursue their art, and discover emerging talents.
The festival will begin with competitions among artists at the village, panchayat, block, and tehsil levels.
The closing ceremony will take place in Lucknow from January 24 to 26, 2024, on the occasion of Uttar Pradesh Day, where winners will be honoured with medals, certificates, and mementoes.
The objective of this event is to familiarize people with various forms of classical, semi-classical, folk music, and folk dance, along with discovering the talents of Uttar Pradesh and providing them with a platform to showcase their skills to people.
In addition, along with preserving and promoting the rich tradition of folk music, the festival also seeks to identify classical and folk artists in different parts of the state as well as give them a platform for exhibiting their talents.
According to the proposed schedule of the Sanakriti Utsav 2023, competitions for artists at the village, panchayat, block, and tehsil levels will be organized from December 25 to December 30, 2023. Similarly, from January 1 to January 5, 2024, competitions for selected artists at the tehsil level will be organized in district headquarters.
From January 10 to January 15, 2024, there will be a competition at the district level among the selected artists in the district headquarters, while from January 20 to January 21, 2024, there will be a competition among selected artists at the divisional level in Lucknow.
On January 23, 2024, the winners of the competition held in Lucknow will undergo a pre-training session for participation in the Uttar Pradesh Day, while from January 24 to January 26, 2024, presentations, honours, and awards ceremonies will be organized for all selected participants on the occasion of Uttar Pradesh Day.
"At the village, panchayat, block, and tehsil levels contests, the Tehsildar will be responsible, while the competitions among selected artists at the tehsil, district and divisional levels will be overseen by the Sub District Magistrate, the Chief Development Officer and the Additional Commissioner respectively," according to the press release, issued by the state government on Thursday.
The government has issued guidelines regarding the festival. The government has instructed officials to prepare a portal for the smooth registration of artists.
It has also called for providing the option of offline and on-the-spot registration for interested individuals who may come late, immediate and effective redressal of the problems of the participants as well as making the participants aware of the prescribed terms and conditions and ensuring participation at the block and district level, it further said.
In addition, information about distinguished individuals participating in the competitions, categorized by region, category, competitions, and events, must be provided in the daily bulletin, the government has directed.
The allotted time for solo singing is 5+1 minutes, for group singing is 5-8 minutes, for solo dance is 5+1 minutes (recorded music not allowed), for group dance is 5-8 minutes (recorded music not allowed), for solo instrumental performance is 5+1 minutes, and for group instrumental performance is 6-10 minutes.
All participants must be residents of Uttar Pradesh, for which the participant's Aadhar card will be considered as proof. Participants can participate in the competition at the competition venues of their respective districts only if they are residents of the concerned district. A participant can participate in only one category. All artists will have to make their arrangements for accompaniment artists and musical instruments.
Presentations in patriotic songs, folk songs, folk dances, tribal dances, and folk instruments will be allowed only in groups. In all other categories, only solo presentations will be allowed. In addition to their solo presentation, all participating artists can also participate in only one group presentation. Accompaniments to artists can collaborate with more than one group, but the leader of a group collaborating with the proposed categories will not be allowed to participate in any other presentation.
In classical dance and folk dance, attire related to that category is mandatory. Group presentations must also have a common attire. Presentations that may hurt the sentiments of any political party, religion, sect, caste, or individual will be strictly prohibited.