Bhubaneswar, April 19: The state culture department has decided to start a monthly event - Sanskruti Charcha - to promote discussions on various issues related to the cultural heritage of Odisha.

A number of cultural researchers, artistes, scholars and academicians will be invited in the monthly seminars. Apart from question and answer sessions, the seminars will also feature a host of debates and interactions.

"The event will give the common man an insight into the cultural scenario of the state and help him learn about the various traditional art forms," said culture secretary Manoranjan Panigrahi.

Representatives from various art groups and veteran artistes will be invited for the event. Panigrahi said the event would be beneficial for artistes who would be able to put forth the problems that they are face.

"A number of government officials will be present at the event and the artistes can share their problems directly to them, which will also help us solve them in a systematic manner," said Panigrahi.

The event would be held at the Odisha State Archives auditorium. The first-of-its-kind session was held in February 25, which witnessed participation from a large number of people.

"After seeing the turnout, we thought of making it a monthly event," Panigrahi said.

Discussions will be held in a number of topics related to Odissi dance and music, heritage conservation and folk art forms. All these sessions will be documented and after conducting the event for a year, the entire proceedings will be given out to public in the form of a book.

Artistes felt it was a noble initiative taken by the government.

"The book will be helpful for researchers and an important addition to the state archives. It is imperative to ensure that steps are taken to look into the problems of the artistes," said Abhaya Kumar Panda, a veteran pala artiste.

The state government is also working towards digitising old records to preserve the classical dance and music traditions for future references.

The Odisha Sangeet Natak Akademi, run by the state government, is converting all cassettes and VHS tapes into DVDs. Around 166 compact discs have already been created.

The Guru Kelucharan Mohapatra Odissi Research Centre is also archiving all the cultural festivals and events conducted by the government across the state in audio, video and written format.