149 folk artists from five districts get welfare aid
Madurai: Welfare assistance worth 9.2 lakh was distributed to 149 folk artists from five southern districts — Madurai, Theni, Dindigul, Sivagangai, and Ramanathapuram — at a function held at the Madurai district collectorate on Tuesday.
The event was organised by the Tamil Nadu department of art and culture.
Chairman of Tamil Nadu Iyal Isai Nataka Mandram and actor Vaagai Chandrasekhar distributed the aid and interacted with the artists. He noted that while state funding was inadequate in the past, the association recently received 1 crore from chief minister M K Stalin's govt. "We currently have 58,000 members. While identifying beneficiaries remains a challenge, we've recommended methods to the govt to streamline the process," he said.
Vaagai also added that the association requested the Hindu religious and charitable endowments (HR&CE) department to employ traditional artists, such as nadaswaram players, for temple rituals to support their livelihoods.
According to a release from the Madurai district administration, 109 artists from Madurai, 20 from Dindigul, nine from Ramanathapuram, seven from Theni, and four from Sivaganga received assistance under the scheme.
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