This Bihar Divas, the government is planning events centred on women empowerment to provide female artistes proper exposure at the national-level.

The art, culture and youth affairs department will organise the Women Artist Festival and Women Theatre Festival in association with Bharatiya Nritya Kala Mandir and Bihar Sangeet Natak Akademi respectively from March 22 to 24 in celebration of Bihar’s 101st foundation day.

“The state is concerned with the overall development of women which comes with their proper exposure across the state. We have decided to empower women both economically and socially,” said art, culture and youth affairs minister Sukhada Pandey.

In organising the festivals, the department has also ensured that most of the artistes are from Bihar so that they can hone their skills over interactions with participants from outside the state. For instance, 60 per cent of participants at the theatre festival would be from Bihar while the remaining would be from outside the state. Similarly, the artists’ festival (including painting, folk art and cultural events) would have 75 per cent people from Bihar and the rest from across the country.

Performers and artists appreciated the government’s initiatives. “This is the only way women artistes and performers in Bihar can enjoy proper exposure and a platform,” said Abha Jha, theatre artiste and a professor in JD Women’s College.

Social worker Sumita Sahi emphasised that the events should be interactive. “The performers will be able to judge themselves as they would share the stage with national artistes. This is a notable move in the field of art and culture for women,” she said.

A source said the venues for the festivals have not been decided upon and the participation of some artistes awaits confirmation. For the theatre festival, the names fixed include Neelam Mansingh Chowdhry from Chandigarh, Usha Ganguli from Calcutta and Pooja Thakur from Allahabad.

At the workshop for artists, a congregation of five national artists, six contemporary artists and folk artists from the state is expected. Madhu Srivastava, a member of Mahila Udyog Sangh, said: “This workshop will help the state’s folk artistes to work on their skills and art. The barter of the art form (exchange of knowledge) will help in the growth of the artists as well.”

Another event is up the state’s sleeves — a two-day Patna Literary Festival at Indira Gandhi Planetarium. To be organised from March 23, the festival would host deliberations on women issues and empowerment by some of the finest thinkers in Urdu, Hindi and English. Gulzar is one of the confirmed names. Bollywood directors Anurag Kashyap, Tigmanshu Dhulia and Vishal Bhardwaj would also attend the festival. At a cultural performance planned after the literary festival, Kathak dancer from Jaipur gharana Swati Sinha and thumri and kajari exponent Vidushi Kumud Diwan are expected to perform.