Oral Documentation of History of Tiatr

What is Oral Documentation of History of Tiatr?

Oral Documentation of History of Tiatr is a scheme of the Tiatr Academy of Goa (TAG), which functions under the Department of Art, Culture and Museums, Government of Goa. Tiatr is Goa's Konkani musical theatre form. A stage tradition of scripted drama interleaved with kantaram, the topical songs that carry the commentary. It has been performed for well over a century, and much of its history exists only in the memory of the people who made it.

That is the gap this scheme addresses. Its purpose is to preserve the rich experiences of veteran tiatr artistes who have contributed to the development of the form, on the reasoning that their recollections are the history of tiatr, and that once a veteran dies undocumented that history is lost.

What the scheme delivers:

• Video recording of the artiste's experiences on a High Definition or higher format camera.
• Preservation of the documentation on Digital Versatile Disc at the Tiatr Academy of Goa's library.
• One copy of the DVD given to the artiste concerned.
• Potential upload of the recording on the Academy's website, on other internet sites, or on other media channels.
• A one-time remuneration as fixed by the Tiatr Academy of Goa, paid to the artiste being documented.
• An additional amount as decided by the Academy for artistes living outside Goa.
• A remuneration to the interviewer, also fixed by the Academy.

Who is eligible for Oral Documentation of History of Tiatr?

An artiste can be documented if:

• The applicant is a veteran artiste who has contributed to the development of tiatr.
• The applicant is a script writer, director, actor, singer, musician, backstage artiste involved in stage setting, light effects, background music, costumes or make-up, or a person involved in organising tiatrs.
• The applicant has made at least 20 years of contribution to the Konkani stage.
• If the applicant is a writer or director, the applicant has scripted at least 15 tiatrs.
• If the applicant is other than a writer or director, the applicant has participated in at least 20 tiatrs.

An artiste is not eligible if:

• The contribution to the Konkani stage falls short of 20 years.
• The applicant is a writer or director with fewer than 15 tiatrs scripted.
• The applicant is a performer or backstage worker with fewer than 20 tiatrs to their credit.
• The applicant's work lies outside tiatr altogether. This is not a general performing-arts scheme; artists in other fields should look at the Directorate of Art and Culture's Kala Gaurav Puraskar, Kala Samman Scheme or Kalakar Kritadnyata Nidhi instead.

The scheme is notably broad about who counts as an artiste. Lighting technicians, costume makers, make-up artists, backstage hands and the people who organised the shows are named alongside the actors and singers. That is a deliberate choice: the history of a stage tradition is not only the history of the people the audience could see.

How artistes are selected

• At least five artistes will be considered for documentation in a financial year.
• Artistes are selected by the Managing Committee of the Tiatr Academy of Goa.
• Preference is given to old and sick artistes.

The preference rule is the practical heart of the scheme. With a small number of recordings a year and a large pool of veterans, the Academy prioritises the artistes whose testimony is most at risk of being lost. Families of ageing artistes should not wait for a general call; an application filed now, noting the artiste's age and health, is what puts a name in front of the Managing Committee.

What documents are required?

The separate sheet is where an application is won or lost. The form asks for the aspects of tiatr on which the artiste has contributed to the tiatr stage, and then directs the applicant to provide detailed information on a separate sheet. That is the place to list the tiatrs by name and year, the roles played or the scripts written, the troupes worked with, and the venues performed at — the evidence for the 15-tiatr or 20-tiatr threshold.

Video clippings are expressly optional. Many veterans from the pre-video era have no surviving footage, and the scheme does not penalise them for it.

How to apply for Oral Documentation of History of Tiatr

1. Obtain the prescribed application form, the Oral Documentation of History of Tiatr Data Form, from the Tiatr Academy of Goa, and take a printout.
2. Fill in all the mandatory fields, the name of the artiste, address, contact number, email address, Aadhaar card number, and the aspects of tiatr on which the artiste has contributed to the tiatr stage.
3. Write the detailed account of the contribution on a separate sheet, listing the tiatrs scripted or participated in with years, so that the 15-tiatr or 20-tiatr threshold is evidenced rather than asserted.
4. Attach the self attested copy of the Aadhaar card, the photographs of the artiste, and any video clippings that are available.
5. Sign the application form and mention the date.
6. Submit the duly filled and signed form with the documents to the Tiatr Academy of Goa, AS-1 / AS-4, Block A, 2nd Floor, Campal Trade Centre, opposite Kala Academy, Campal, Panaji, Goa 403001.
7. Keep a copy of the submitted application form and any acknowledgement received, for future reference.

What happens after selection

Once the Managing Committee selects an artiste, the Academy arranges the interview and records it on a High Definition or higher format camera. An interviewer conducts the session and is paid a remuneration fixed by the Academy. The recording is transferred to DVD, one copy goes to the artiste, and the master is preserved in the Tiatr Academy of Goa's library. The Academy may also publish the recording on its website or through other media channels, so an artiste should expect the material to be publicly accessible.

The Tiatr Academy of Goa reserves the right to make changes in the rules of the scheme, so an applicant should confirm current conditions with the Academy office before submitting.

Related Tiatr Academy schemes

The Academy runs two companion schemes that a veteran artiste or a researcher may be eligible for at the same time:

• Documentation of Tiatr through Research Work, which publishes researched books on tiatr, its song and music, in English or Konkani in Roman script.
• Preservation of Tiatr Literature, which prints scripts of tiatrs, khell tiatrs, khells and one-act plays and anthologies of kantaram in Konkani in Roman script, with category-wise honoraria and free copies.

An artiste who both performed for decades and wrote scripts may qualify under this scheme for the oral record and under Preservation of Tiatr Literature for the scripts, and the two are applied for separately.

Help and contact

• Tiatr Academy of Goa, AS-1 / AS-4, Block A, 2nd Floor, Campal Trade Centre, opposite Kala Academy, Campal, Panaji, Goa 403001
• Parent department: Department of Art, Culture and Museums, Government of Goa; Directorate of Art and Culture, 5th Floor, Shram Shakti Bhavan, Patto, Panaji; phone 0832-2404600; email dir-dac.goa@nic.in

No fee is charged to apply, and applications are received only on the Academy's prescribed data form at the Campal address.

How to check your application status

This is an offline scheme run entirely out of the Tiatr Academy of Goa's office at Campal, and there is no online tracking portal or reference number system on the official portal (artandculture.goa.gov.in) for it. Status checking works through direct contact rather than a dashboard.

• Keep the acknowledgement. When the application is submitted at the Campal Trade Centre office, ask the person receiving it to note the date of receipt on your copy of the form, or issue a receipt. That date is what you will refer to when you follow up.
• Follow up with the Tiatr Academy of Goa directly, in person or by phone, at AS-1 / AS-4, Block A, 2nd Floor, Campal Trade Centre, opposite Kala Academy, Campal, Panaji, Goa 403001. Quote the artiste's name and the date the form was submitted.
• Ask specifically where the file stands: whether it has reached the Managing Committee for consideration, whether the artiste has been shortlisted among the five (or more) to be documented that financial year, or whether it is still pending review.
• If the Academy office cannot give a clear answer, escalate to the parent department, the Directorate of Art and Culture, 5th Floor, Shram Shakti Bhavan, Patto, Panaji, on 0832-2404600 or by email at dir-dac.goa@nic.in.
• Expect the timeline to be slow and irregular. Because only a handful of artistes are selected each financial year and preference goes to the old and sick, an application can sit for months before the Managing Committee takes it up. There is no published turnaround time, so periodic follow-up (say, every few months) rather than a single check-in is the realistic approach.
• Once selection happens, the Academy itself will contact the artiste to arrange the recording date, since it has to organise a camera crew and an interviewer. An applicant does not need to separately request the recording date; it follows from selection.

Common reasons for rejection

• Contribution falls short of the 20-year threshold, or the 15-tiatr / 20-tiatr count, but is only asserted, not shown. The scheme's separate sheet exists precisely to make the Managing Committee verify the count. An application that simply states "veteran artiste, many years in tiatr" without naming the tiatrs, years, troupes and roles gives the Committee nothing to check the claim against, and is far more likely to be set aside than a sheet with dates and titles. Fix: list every tiatr scripted or performed in, year by year, with the troupe name and the role or job (actor, singer, backstage, direction).
• The applicant's work is outside tiatr. Konkani cinema, non-tiatr Konkani music, or general performing arts contribution does not qualify here, however distinguished. Fix: confirm the contribution is specifically to tiatr as a stage form before applying; if it is not, apply instead to the Directorate of Art and Culture's Kala Gaurav Puraskar, Kala Samman Scheme or Kalakar Kritadnyata Nidhi, whichever fits.
• Missing or unattested Aadhaar copy. Since the Aadhaar copy is also used to process the remuneration payment, an application without a properly self attested copy is incomplete on submission. Fix: self attest every page of the Aadhaar copy before submitting, not just sign the form itself.
• Incomplete mandatory fields on the Data Form, particularly the section on the aspects of tiatr the artiste has contributed to, left blank on the assumption that the separate sheet covers it. The form and the sheet are meant to work together. Fix: fill every field the printed form asks for and treat the separate sheet as an addition, not a replacement.
• No photographs supplied. Photographs are a mandatory document, not an optional extra like video clippings. Fix: include recent photographs of the artiste with the application; do not assume old photographs on file elsewhere at the Academy will be reused.
• The artiste is not among the small number selected that financial year. Because only about five artistes are documented annually and the Managing Committee prioritises the old and sick, a complete and eligible application can still miss out simply on numbers in a given year. This is not a rejection for a defect in the file. Fix: if not selected, the application can be resubmitted or the Academy asked to carry it forward to the next financial year's consideration, especially if the artiste's health has since worsened, which strengthens the case for preference.