Scheme of Extending Financial Assistance to New Drama Productions

What is the Scheme of Extending Financial Assistance to New Drama Productions?

Scheme of Extending Financial Assistance to New Drama Productions is a production grant run by the Tamil Nadu Eyal Isai Nataka Manram, the state's performing arts body under the Department of Art and Culture, Government of Tamil Nadu. The Manram gives a drama or dance-drama troupe money to create and stage a new Tamil work drawing on Tamil literature, history and culture.

The Manram itself dates to 1955, when it was founded as the Tamil Nadu Sangeet Nataka Sangam, and it took its present name in 1973. Alongside the Kalaimamani awards and its assistance to indigent artists, production grants are one of its oldest instruments. The department records 102 dramas and 35 dance-dramas produced and staged under these grants to date.

The published grant figure needs an honest statement, because it has moved. The national scheme directory lists the dance-drama production grant at Rs 20,000. The Department of Art and Culture has separately described grants of Rs 50,000 to three dance-drama troupes for new Tamil dance-dramas, and one announced festival cycle offered Rs 1.5 lakh each to five dance-dramas and five theatre productions, with the selected works staged in a festival mounted by the Manram. These are different calls made in different years rather than contradictory versions of one rate. The only figure that binds is the one printed in the call you are answering.

The intent behind the scheme is worth understanding, because it shapes what gets selected. Tamil stage drama and dance-drama are expensive to mount and hard to recover costs on. A new production needs a script, a music score, costumes, sets, weeks of rehearsal, and a hall. Commercial cinema and television absorb the audience and the performers. The Manram's grant exists to make it possible for a troupe to attempt an original Tamil work, historical, mythological or social, rather than restage what already sells.

Who is eligible, and who cannot apply?

A troupe can apply if:

• The applicant is a drama troupe or dance-drama troupe operating in Tamil Nadu.
• The proposed work is a new production. A new Tamil play, or a new Tamil dance-drama, not a revival.
• The theme is rooted in Tamil literature, history, mythology, culture or social life. The Manram's own description is of historical, mythological and social Tamil plays highlighting the culture, literature and bravery of Tamils.
• The troupe can field the artists needed and has a credible plan to actually stage the work.
• The troupe has a bank account in its own name to receive the grant.

You cannot apply if:

• You are an individual artist seeking personal support. Individuals are not eligible for a production grant. Folk artistes can instead apply for the Rs 2,000 individual grant for instruments and costumes, and troupes for the Rs 6,000 troupe grant.
• The production is not in Tamil, or is not connected to Tamil literature, history or culture.
• The work is an existing production being revived rather than a new one.
• The troupe is based outside Tamil Nadu.
• You are applying for film, television or commercial serial production. This is a stage scheme.
• The application arrives outside the notified window for the current call.

What documents are required?

The script and the budget carry the application. A selection committee reading twenty proposals can tell within a page whether a work exists as a written play or only as an idea, and whether a budget has been costed or invented. Cost the sets, costumes and music separately and realistically.

How to apply for a new drama production grant

1. Watch for the Manram's call for applications. The Tamil Nadu Eyal Isai Nataka Manram publishes announcements inviting proposals, typically once a year, in Tamil newspapers and on artandculture.tn.gov.in. The call states the grant amount, the number of productions to be selected and the closing date.
2. Read the current call carefully to confirm whether it covers stage drama, dance-drama, or both, and what the grant per production is in that cycle.
3. Prepare the script or detailed scenario of the new work, with a synopsis stating the historical, mythological or social theme and its basis in Tamil literature and culture.
4. Assemble the troupe papers, registration proof, formation history, past productions and the list of participating artists with their roles.
5. Draw up an itemised production budget covering sets, costumes, music, rehearsal costs, hall hire and publicity, and show the total against the grant sought.
6. Complete the prescribed application form and attach the script, troupe profile, artist list, budget, registration proof and bank account details.
7. Submit the application to the Tamil Nadu Eyal Isai Nataka Manram, 31, "Ponni", P.S. Kumarasamy Raja Salai, Raja Annamalai Puram, Chennai 600 028, before the closing date, and obtain an acknowledgement.
8. Keep a complete copy of everything submitted, including the script.

What happens after selection?

Selected troupes are informed by the Manram. Where the call is tied to a festival — as in the cycle that offered Rs 1.5 lakh per production. The selected dance-dramas and theatre productions are staged in a festival mounted and conducted by the Tamil Nadu Eyal Isai Nataka Manram, which means the troupe commits to producing the work to a schedule and performing it at the venue the Manram arranges.

Grants of this kind are normally released against the production actually being mounted, and troupes should expect to account for the money. Keep bills for costumes, sets and hall hire, and photographs and a recording of the staged performance. Those records also become the troupe's evidence base for the next application.

How do you check the status of an application?

There is no online tracking system. The route is:

1. Keep the acknowledgement given when the proposal was submitted.
2. Contact the Tamil Nadu Eyal Isai Nataka Manram office in Chennai with the acknowledgement reference.
3. Watch the Department of Art and Culture announcements for the list of selected productions.
4. Escalate to the Department of Art and Culture, Government of Tamil Nadu if the Manram office cannot say where the proposal stands.

Why do proposals get rejected, and how can that be fixed?

• The work is not new. A restaging of an existing play does not meet the core condition. Propose an original work.
• No script. A theme described in two lines is not a proposal. Submit a written script or a detailed scenario.
• No Tamil basis. The scheme funds Tamil productions grounded in Tamil literature, history and culture. Translations and unconnected themes fall outside it.
• Individual applicant. The grant is to a troupe or producing group; applications in a single artist's personal name are set aside.
• Budget missing or unrealistic. An uncosted proposal cannot be assessed against a fixed grant.
• No bank account in the troupe's name, which stalls the release even after selection.
• Late submission. Proposals received after the closing date in the call are not held over.

Where can a troupe raise a grievance?

• The Tamil Nadu Eyal Isai Nataka Manram, 31, "Ponni", P.S. Kumarasamy Raja Salai, Raja Annamalai Puram, Chennai 600 028.
• The Department of Art and Culture, Government of Tamil Nadu, through artandculture.tn.gov.in.
• The Assistant Director of the Regional Cultural Centre covering the troupe's district, for guidance on submitting.

No fee is payable for the application, and no agent can secure a production grant.

What related support exists for drama and folk troupes?

Troupes that also register their members with the Tamil Nadu Folk Artistes Welfare Board, which has enrolled 50,882 folk artistes: bring the individual performers within reach of marriage, medical and death benefits that a production grant does not cover.