Joypurhat Fine Art Festival in focus

To inspire creativity and to diffuse the practice of science and culture among the students of the rural schools, the first Joypurhat Fine Art Festival was held last month at Teghar High School premises, Joypurhat.

A five-day (April 18-23) art exhibition, featuring outcomes of the fine art festival, begins today at 3pm at Zainul Gallery 1 and 2, University of Dhaka. Asaduzzaman Noor, cultural affairs minister, will inaugurate the exhibition as chief guest. Eminent artists Syed Jahangir and Samarjit Roy Chowdhury will attend the occasion as special guests. Professor Nisar Hossain, Dean of Faculty of Fine Art, University of Dhaka will preside over the programme.      

The festival at Joypurhat, organised by Charukala Utshab Joypurhat 2016 Udjapan Parishad, also aimed to create a soulful breeze between the artists of several generations. Eminent artist Samarjit Roy Chowdhury inaugurated the festival on March 16 while Abu Sayeed Al Mahmood Swapon, MP of Joypurhat-2, attended the event as chief guest. 

Among others, Abdur Rahim, Deputy Commissioner of Joypurhat; Molla Nazrul Islam, Superintendent of Police; Harun ar Rashid, the chief coordinator of the festival and convener of the Festival Udjapan Parishad spoke at the inaugural event. 

“Alongside academic studies, the students of this locality with portray paintings, recite poems, perform music and dance and stage play. Above all, they will become good human beings through cultural practice,” said Samarjit Roy Chowdhury.     

About 125 students from 12 local schools took part in the festival. About a hundred noted artists -- Abdus Shakoor Shah, Farida Zaman, Ranjit Das, Afzal Hossain, Mostafizul Haque, Nasreen Begum, Mohammad Yunus, Ahmed Shamsuddoha, Moniruzzaman, Harun ar Rashid, Shameem Subrana, Rafi Haque, Anisuzzaman, Bipasha Hayat, Naima Haque, Rezaul Karim, Abdus Sattar Toufiq, Maksudur Rahman, Rezaun Nabi and Alaptagin Tushar along with former and current students of faculty of fine art of different universities participated in the festival.     

The three-day (March 16-18) festival featured the making of paintings by the young and prominent artists; cultural performances like presentation of Tagore songs, folk songs and Santal dance and display of artworks by the participated artists and students.  

Organising such an event is inspiring for us all, the art loving people of Bangladesh. If the arrangements like this happen across Bangladesh time and again, Bangladesh will be vibrant with art and culture, generating a pool of creative generations.