New platform to provide budding artists in Kolkata with

Eminent artists from the city have come together to form a platform for providing financial assistance and health insurance to budding talents.

Danseuse Tanushree Shankar, classical instrumentalist Tejendra Narayan Majumder, music composer Debojyoti Mishra and former Prasar Bharati CEO Jawhar Sircar are among the people who joined their hands to form "Calcutta Broadway" on Saturday.

"Some 26 budding artists from the fields of dance, music or acting will be provided with financial assistance and health insurance during their struggle period. This will be a pilot project for six months, after which we will think about increasing the number of beneficiaries," said IT industry doyen Bikram Dasgupta, who mooted the initiative.

He said the motive of the initiative is to provide long-term structured support to the budding talents.

Dasgupta said that the beneficiaries will, however, need to be associated with some theatre, dance or music group.

Most of the beneficiaries will be in their early twenties, he said.

"Many young singers and instrumentalists have slipped into oblivion after showing initial spark due to poor financial condition, lack of motivation and family pressure. This initiative will help such people," Debojyoti Mishra told PTI.

Tanushree Shankar said the initiative will be of immense help to the young artists.

"It will give some breathing space to the artists so that they can pursue their passion and not be overburdened with livelihood concerns," she said, adding that members of her dance troupe are also part of the initiative.

Arindam Ganguly, General Secretary of the West Bengal Motion Picture Artists' Forum welcomed the move and pledged support to Calcutta Broadway.

Speaking about initiatives of the forum, he said, "There are a lot of schemes for senior and junior artists, including financial and medical help. We also have a list of artists, including juniors, which we forward to channels and producers of TV programmes.