New building for Art & Cultural Centre

Tiruchi: The State Government has proposed to construct a new building at a cost of Rs.75 lakh to house the Regional Art and Cultural Centre here.The authorities are contemplating to shift the Government Music School functioning currently at Thillai Nagar as well as the Jawahar Bala Bhavan here to the new building.Besides Tiruchi, the Government has also proposed to construct new buildings at Kancheepuram and Madurai to house the Regional Art and Cultural Centres in those places, according to official sources here.

The selection of an appropriate site to construct the building that will bring the Regional Cultural Centre, Government Music School and Jawahar Bala Bhavan all under one roof on completion, will commence, once the government order to this effect is issued formally.The Regional Art and Cultural Centre has jurisdiction over Tiruchi, Perambalur, Karur and Pudukottai districts.The Government Music School here, the first to be started by the Department of Art and Culture a decade ago along with the schools in Tirunelveli, Salem, Pudukotai and Tiruvarur, is currently functioning in a rented building imparting training to 100 students in `nagaswaram', `thavil,' Bharathanatyam and vocal courses.

The sources said from the current academic year, the State Government has decided to introduce two more courses - violin and mridangam - in addition to the existing five courses being taught at the Music School in Tiruchi.Boys and girls in the age group of 12 to 25 years will be admitted to the new courses.The sources say that if everything is to be in place, the new building will come up within the end of the current financial year itself.Violin and mridangam courses will also be introduced in the Music Schools in Karur, Perambalur and Pudukottai.Efforts are on to identify a suitable site for the construction of a new building in Pudukottai to house the Government Music School.