Bhubaneswar, June 6: The Odisha government has identified as many as 347 folk art forms and is making serious efforts to preserve and revive dying art forms.

Disclosing this, Odisha culture minister Prafulla Samal said: “We have identified 4,541 cultural troupes and 57,333 artistes carrying on such art forms.”

Samal admitted that the culturally-rich state had hundreds of art forms, which were on the verge of extinction mainly because of lack of patronage to the profession.

To promote cultural activities, the Odisha government has kept a revolving fund of Rs 5 lakh each for the district cultural associations and Rs 2 lakh each for the block-level cultural associations.

The district collectors had also been asked to source funds from the information, education and communication component of various central government-sponsored schemes, such as National Rural Health Mission and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, to keep various cultural activities going so that the artists could earn their livelihood, said the minister.

So far, 10 districts had sourced funds to the tune of Rs 2.46 crore from various schemes, he said adding that Ganjam had arranged the highest amount of Rs 1.20 crore.

To create infrastructure for staging cultural programmes, the Odisha government had provided Rs 20 lakh to each district to set up Sanskriti Bhavans. “We have decided to release additional funds for completing construction of incomplete auditoria,” said the minister.

Samal, who also holds the tourism department portfolio, said both the departments were organising various festivals to preserve the Odia culture and boost tourism as well. “We are also adding a number of new festivals every year,” he said.

Stating that Rangabati Festival, which was held for the first time this year, has evoked a huge response, the minister said it would henceforth be an annual affair and would feature in Odisha’s annual tourism calendar.