Scheme of Financial Assistance for Dance and Drama Troupes/Associations, Puducherry

What is the Scheme of Financial Assistance for Dance and Drama Troupes in Puducherry?

Scheme of Financial Assistance for Dance and Drama Troupes/Associations is a production grant run by the Department of Art and Culture, Government of Puducherry, from its Directorate at 1 Romain Rolland Street. The scheme pays Rs 2,000 to a registered troupe or association that stages a new classical or folk dance programme, or a new drama, within the union territory.

The scheme sits inside the department's larger head of "Establishment and Promotion of Cultural Activities / Grant-in-Aid to Voluntary Cultural Institutions". According to the department's schemes page, that head exists to "preserve and promote different classical / folk art forms" and specifically to "encourage the troupes / artists performing old traditional arts forms which are in dying stage such as puppetry, therukoothu, karagam, kavadiattam". The dance and drama troupes grant is the part of that head addressed to new work rather than to revival performances.

Puducherry's cultural calendar gives the grant its practical context. The department runs Fête de Puducherry every June in collaboration with the South Zone Cultural Centre, celebrated across all four regions, Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam — and an annual Kalai Vizha. Troupes that receive this grant frequently perform in those programmes.

What the scheme is trying to achieve

• Put a small amount of public money behind new choreography and new playwriting rather than repertory repeats.
• Keep the creative credit local: the originating artist must be a native of Puducherry by birth or domicile.
• Support organised troupes with a track record, by requiring at least two years' standing.

Who is eligible for the dance and drama troupe grant?

A troupe or association can apply if:

• It is a cultural body registered in the Union Territory of Puducherry.
• It has a standing of at least two years. A troupe formed last season does not qualify.
• It is presenting a new classical or folk dance programme, or staging a new drama.
• The theme of the dance, or the story and dialogue of the drama, is new and original, created by an artist who is a native of the territory by birth or by domicile.
• It can maintain separate accounts for the project and open them to audit.

You cannot apply, or are not eligible, if:

• You are an individual artist seeking personal support. The grant is for a troupe, association or registered cultural body. Individual artists in indigent circumstances are covered by the department's separate assistance of Rs 1,000 per month to indigent artists, and Rs 1,500 to indigent Tamil scholars aged 58 and above with annual income up to Rs 24,000.
• The troupe is unregistered, or registered outside Puducherry.
• The troupe has less than two years' standing.
• The production is a revival or restaging of an existing work, or the script or choreography was created by someone who is not a native or domiciled artist of the territory.
• The organisation is unwilling to execute the bond with two sureties or to submit its project accounts for audit.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the dance and drama troupe grant

Applications are received offline only. The Department of Art and Culture does not accept this grant application on the Puducherry e-District portal.

1. Download the prescribed form titled "Application for the Scheme of Financial Assistance for Dance and Drama Troupes / Associations for staging New and Special Dance Programmes and Dramas" from art.py.gov.in, or collect a hard copy from the Department of Art and Culture during working hours.
2. Fill in all ten items on the form: name of the organisation, whether it is a registered body and since when, aims and objectives with the constitution enclosed, the Board of Management, total anticipated expenditure, the amount of grant applied for, how the shortfall will be met, the person authorised to receive the grant, confirmation that three copies of the synopsis or script are enclosed, and the names and addresses of the two sureties.
3. Attach the enclosures, above all the three copies of the synopsis of the dance or the script of the drama, along with the registration certificate, the constitution and the nativity proof of the originating artist.
4. Sign the undertaking on the covering page. By signing, the management agrees that project accounts will be maintained separately and kept open to check or audit by an officer of the Education Department or the Directorate of Art and Culture.
5. Submit the application to the Superintendent, Department of Art and Culture, 1 Romain Rolland Street, Puducherry 605001.
6. Obtain an acknowledgement carrying the date and time of submission, and keep it for follow-up.

What conditions come attached to the grant?

The application form is also the contract. Three conditions are printed on it and apply to every sanctioned troupe:

• Separate accounts. The accounts of the project must be properly and separately maintained and remain open to check or audit by an officer of the Education Department or the Directorate of Art and Culture.
• Recovery for misuse. If the government has reason to believe that the instalments of the grant have not been properly utilised for the approved purposes within a reasonable time, or within a specifically stipulated time, the amount paid is recoverable in such manner as may be decided.
• Bond with two sureties. The grantee executes a bond in the prescribed form with two sureties in favour of the President of India. On a breach, the grantee and the sureties are individually and jointly liable to refund the entire grant together with interest at the prevailing rate.

Troupes should read these three clauses before naming sureties, because the sureties carry real liability.

How to check the status of a dance and drama grant application

There is no online tracker for Art and Culture grants in Puducherry. Follow up with the Superintendent at the Directorate, quoting the date on your acknowledgement. The department's contact numbers are 0413-2336203 and 0413-2349716, and the email address is art@py.gov.in. Regional offices exist at Karaikal (04368-221472), Mahe (0490-2332222) and Yanam (0884-2321243), and troupes based in those regions usually route their papers through them.

Why applications are commonly returned

Working from the conditions the department publishes, the recurring problems are:

• Three copies of the synopsis or script not enclosed. The form asks for three; one copy is not enough.
• The troupe's standing is under two years, or the registration certificate does not show a date from which standing can be counted.
• The work is not new, or the originality of the theme, story or dialogue cannot be traced to a native or domiciled Puducherry artist.
• Sureties not named, or named without addresses, so the bond cannot be executed.
• No statement of how the shortfall in expenditure will be met, which item 7 requires.

Key dates and how sanctions are timed

The Department of Art and Culture does not publish a fixed last date for this grant. Applications are received through the year and considered against the budget provision for the "Establishment and Promotion of Cultural Activities" head in the relevant financial year. In practice, troupes applying with an eye on Fête de Puducherry in June, or on the annual Kalai Vizha, should submit well ahead of the performance rather than after it, because the grant is sanctioned against a proposed production.

Where to raise a grievance

• The Director, Department of Art and Culture, 1 Romain Rolland Street, Puducherry 605001. Phone 0413-2336203 or 0413-2349716; email art@py.gov.in.
• CPGRAMS at pgportal.gov.in for an escalation if the department does not respond.

The application form is issued free of cost, and no agent needs to be paid to file it.