Bhubaneswar, May 24: The culture department has decided to form a Nagar Kala Sanskruti Sangha in nine urban local bodies to promote folk art forms of the state.

These units will assist folk artistes living in urban areas of the state to find livelihood and preserve their art forms.

"A very systematic approach needs to be adopted to ensure that the artistes enjoy the facilities of government schemes. These centres will focus on bringing under its purview more artistes and groups," said culture minister Ashok Panda during a departmental meeting today.

The units will be set up in the municipal corporations of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack and the municipalities of Puri, Berhampur, Rourkela, Baripada, Bhadrak, Balasore and Sambalpur.

It would be set up along the lines of the Zilla Kala Sanskruti Sangha (ZKSS) and Block Kala Sanskruti Sangha (BKSS). In 2011, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had launched them at the district and block-level to promote traditional artistes and folk art forms.

Till date, 314 BKSS and 30 ZKSS have been formed in the state. There are over three lakh folk artistes in the state and around 7,500 folk art groups.

A revolving fund to the tune of Rs 3 lakh would be created in each Nagar Kala Sanskruti Sangha. A two-day training programme involving district culture officers will be held in the first week of June to train them on the functioning of the centres.

The officers would be taught how to interact with the artistes and make them aware about the available government schemes. They will also have to take initiatives so that more artistes enrol themselves with the organisation. A group of resource persons from Unicef would conduct the sessions.

Artistes are hopeful that the initiative would be helpful in creating better livelihood opportunities for them. "I feel it would help us get better platforms to stage our creations and we will get chance to perform in festivals across the country and abroad," said Kashinath Nayak, a 60-year-old martial artiste who practises the Paika dance.

Another artiste practising the Ghoda Nacha, Panchanan Behera said: "The centre should facilitate training on various folk art forms among the younger generations so that the legacy continues."

A Rajya Kala Sanskruti Sangha will also be formed at the state level and it will be responsible for the regulation and evaluation of all the affiliated bodies.

The government is conducting skill training and communication programmes for folk art federations of the state. The programme has been conducted in 11 districts and will shortly be held in the remaining ones.