Jamshedpur, Feb. 20: Traditional tribal Sohrai painters, who often languish remote villages of Jharkhand, will soon not only get their skills fine-tuned by experts but also a Kolhan University certificate.

Jamshedpur-based Kannelite Facility Management Services (FMS) is planning to set up the first Sohrai painting residential centre at a cost of Rs 2-crore in Adityapur, neighbouring Seraikela-Kharsawan district, on nearly five acres, for which they signed an MoU with tourism department at the recent Global Investors' Summit in Ranchi.

The centre, to be functional in 2018, will be affiliated to Kolhan University, and offer a one-year Sohrai painting course to students and interested rural artists to help them reach a wider audience.

Permanent faculty would comprise well-known Sohrai painters from different parts of Hazaribagh. But, painting experts from metro cities will come as guest faculty to fine-tune the skills of trainees.

Jha added that they were in talks with state tourism department, whose hotel they are already running in Sakchi in PPP mode, for a list of established Sohrai painters and NGOs working to preserve this ancient tribal art form, so as to select the best possible faculty at the proposed residential centre.

"Training will be free for those who hail from tribal hinterland, are from economically weaker groups and practise Sohrai painting to earn their living. For others, we will fix a reasonable fee. We want traditional painting to retain its ethnicity and authenticity, but compete with others in the global arena," said Mithilesh Jha, director of Kannelite FMS. "We want it to get an international market through exhibitions with global tie-ups," Jha added.

He added that experimentation would be done in Sohrai, which at the moment is at times used on walls of government buildings and roadsides in cities in Jharkhand as murals, to see if the art form takes well to fabrics, glass screens and wood for a wide range of applications. It also has to be seen if materials used in Sohrai painting are resistant to rain and sun.

This apart, Kannelite FMS will also set up a residential hospitality education centre on the same campus at a cost of Rs 10 crore.

Also affiliated to Kolhan University, it will offer a three-year hotel management degree course and a one-year food craft and hospitality certificate course.