Scheme of Financial Assistance for Cultural Organisations for Holding Conferences, Seminars, Symposia, Exhibitions, Festivals and Competitions, Puducherry

What is the Scheme of Financial Assistance for Cultural Organisations?

The Scheme of Financial Assistance for Cultural Organisation for Holding Conference, Seminar, Symposium, Exhibition, Festival, Competition etc. is a grant scheme of the Department of Art and Culture, Government of Puducherry. The scheme gives a voluntary cultural organisation Rs 10,000 annually towards the cost of holding a cultural event.

The department's own schemes table records the benefit as "Rs.10,000/- annually", with no age limit and no annual income condition, and two governing conditions:

• "The institution applying for grant should have a standing of at least 2 years in the field."
• "An institution/organization organizing a seminar, symposium etc., under the scheme shall not invite foreign delegates without obtaining the prior approval of the Government."

The scheme is one strand of the department's broader work of promoting cultural and research activities in literary arts, fine arts, plastic arts, performing arts and historical research by providing financial assistance to voluntary cultural organisations and research scholars in the form of grant-in-aid for maintenance, for festivals and for the publication of manuscripts.

Puducherry's cultural calendar gives the scheme its context. The department runs the annual Puducherry Kalaivizha, celebrates the Fête de Puducherry every June in collaboration with the South Zone Cultural Centre across all four regions, and supports troupes performing dying traditional forms such as puppetry, therukoothu, karagam and kavadiattam. A Rs 10,000 grant will not fund a large festival, but it meaningfully offsets the cost of a one-day seminar, a small exhibition or a competition run by a neighbourhood cultural sabha.

The department operates from 1 Romain Rolland Street, Puducherry - 1, with offices in Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam.

Which organisations are eligible, and who is not eligible?

An organisation can apply if:

• It is a cultural organisation or institution working in the field of art, culture, literature or research.
• It has a standing of at least two years in the field, which is the scheme's explicit condition.
• It is proposing to hold a conference, seminar, symposium, exhibition, festival, competition or a comparable cultural event.
• It is registered, typically under the Societies Registration Act or as a trust, and can produce audited accounts.
• It has settled the utilisation certificate for any grant received earlier from the department.

An organisation is not eligible and cannot apply if:

• It has less than two years' standing in the field.
• It is proposing an activity that is not a cultural event of the kind the scheme names.
• It is unregistered and cannot produce a constitution or audited accounts.
• It intends to invite foreign delegates without prior government approval, which the scheme prohibits.
• Its utilisation certificate for an earlier grant is pending.

Individuals cannot apply under this scheme. An individual artist, writer or scholar in Puducherry should look at the department's other schemes instead:

• Financial Assistance to Persons Distinguished in Letters, Arts and Performing Visual Arts: Rs 1,000 a month to indigent artistes with annual income up to Rs 24,000 and age not less than 50 years, and Rs 1,500 a month to indigent Tamil scholars with the same income ceiling and age not less than 58 years.
• Scheme of financial assistance for publication of manuscripts or research journals, Rs 10,000.
• Fellowship to research scholars for two years, for scholars under 35 years of age holding an MA degree from a recognised university.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the cultural organisation grant in Puducherry

1. Confirm the two-year standing. Check that your organisation can evidence at least two years of activity in the cultural field, with programmes, reports or press coverage to show for it.
2. Prepare the event proposal. Set out clearly what the conference, seminar, symposium, exhibition, festival or competition will be — its subject, dates, venue, expected participants and programme. The event should fall within one or more cultural subjects such as language, literature, philosophy, religion, history, music, dance, drama or the other fine arts.
3. Prepare a budget estimate showing the total cost of the event and the organisation's own contribution alongside the Rs 10,000 sought.
4. Obtain prior government approval if foreign delegates are to be invited. Do this before issuing invitations, not after, the scheme condition is unconditional.
5. Assemble the supporting documents: registration certificate, audited accounts, annual report and the utilisation certificate for any earlier grant.
6. Submit the application in physical form to the Department of Art and Culture, 1 Romain Rolland Street, Puducherry - 1. The department's guidance is that all applications must be submitted in physical format; there is no online route. Organisations in Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam can route the application through the departmental office in their region.
7. Collect the acknowledgement and follow up with the Superintendent, Scheme Section, on +91-413-2336203 or +91-413-2349716.

How much is granted and on what terms?

The grant is described as annual, so an eligible organisation can apply in successive years, subject to the availability of funds and to a clean utilisation record for the previous grant.

Rs 10,000 is a modest figure and should be treated as a contribution towards the cost of an event rather than as full funding. Organisations planning larger programmes should look at the department's parallel grant-in-aid to voluntary cultural institutions, which supports the construction of buildings as well as the conduct of literary functions, festivals, conferences and exhibitions, and at the South Zone Cultural Centre and the Ministry of Culture's own schemes for cultural organisations.

How do I check the status of an application?

1. Keep the acknowledgement issued when the physical application was submitted.
2. Contact the Superintendent, Scheme Section, Department of Art and Culture, 1 Romain Rolland Street, Puducherry, on +91-413-2336203 or +91-413-2349716.
3. Ask whether the utilisation certificate for any earlier grant has been accepted, since that is the standard blocker.
4. For a case that is not moving, the department's own grievance guidance is that the public may contact the Assistant Library and Information Officer on all working days, and the Director on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 10.00 a.m. and 12.00 noon.

Why applications for the cultural grant get rejected

• Organisation has less than two years' standing in the cultural field.
• Event does not fall within the scheme's description. A purely commercial show or a private function is not a conference, seminar, symposium, exhibition, festival or competition of the kind the scheme funds.
• Foreign delegates invited without prior government approval, which is an express breach of the scheme condition.
• Utilisation certificate for an earlier grant pending.
• Accounts unaudited, or no registration certificate produced.
• Application submitted by email or online rather than in the required physical form.
• Budget estimate missing, so the department cannot assess the proposal.

Where do I complain if the grant is delayed?

• Director, Department of Art and Culture, 1 Romain Rolland Street, Puducherry - 1: +91-413-2336203, +91-413-2349716, email art[dot]pon[at]nic[dot]in. The Director is available for the public on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 10.00 a.m. and 12.00 noon.
• Assistant Library and Information Officer, same address, available on all working days for complaints and suggestions.
• Karaikal: the Assistant Library and Information Officer, 93 Masdhan Palli Street, Karaikal - 609 602, +91-4368-221472.
• Mahe: the Library Information Assistant, Government Public Library, Mahe - 673 310, +91-490-2332222.
• Yanam: the Library Information Assistant, Government Public Library, High School Road, Yanam - 533 464, +91-884-2321243.
• Regional Executive Officers may also be approached for complaints in the outlying regions, as the department's own guidance notes.

The application and the grant are free of any charge. No fee should be paid to anyone for filing an application or securing a sanction.