Bhubaneswar, May 17: The culture department has formed Nagar Kala Sanskruti Sangha in nine urban local bodies to promote folk artistes of the state.

It has been set up on the lines of the Zilla Kala Sanskruti Sangha (ZKSS) and the Block Kala Sanskruti Sangha (BKSS). In 2011, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had launched the BKSS and ZKSS at the district and block levels to promote traditional artistes and folk art forms. Both these models have been successful and helped traditional artistes, which is why the government decided to open more such centres at the urban local bodies level, said a source.

A two-day sensitisation programme for the officials of Nagar Kala Sanskruti Sangha is being hosted by the state culture department here.

The centres will assist folk artistes in the state to find livelihood, find out ways to preserve their art forms and provide platforms to showcase their art forms.

"A very systematic approach needs to be adopted to strengthen the message dissemination practice and structure to ensure that the schemes of the government reaches out to the artistes. These centres will focus on bringing under its purview more folk artistes and their groups," said culture minister Ashok Panda.

The participants are being guided to prepare micro plans of activity, script writing, prepare calendar of activities at the Sangha level for smooth implementation of plans and programmes.

The centres has been set up in the municipal corporations of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack and the municipalities of Puri, Brahmapur, Rourkela, Baripada, Bhadrak, Balasore and Sambalpur.

The officers are being oriented on the basics of communication, community dialogue tools and effective mechanism to interact with the artistes. A group of resource persons from Unicef are conducting the sessions.

Artistes are hopeful that the initiative will help in creating better livelihood opportunities for them. "I feel it will help us get better platforms to stage our creations, and we will get a chance to perform in festivals across the country and abroad," said Kashinath Nayak, 60, a martial artiste who practises the paika dance. There are over three lakh folk artistes in the state and around 7,500 folk art groups.