Hamsadhwani charter
Charter
Hamsadhwani - Charter
Hamsadhwani is one of the most respected cultural organizations in Chennai dedicated to the cause of preserving and promoting Indian traditional music and performing arts. Established under the Societies Act of Tamil Nadu 1975 by its founder-secretary the late Mr R. Ramachandran (an eminent journalist and an acclaimed senior Editor of The Hindu), the not-for-profit organization has today come to be recognized as one of the most vibrant cultural organizations, on par with a number of institutions established several decades earlier.
Hamsadhwani is the only one of its kind successfully operating in the south of Chennai. Today, the institution stands as a tribute and monument to Mr Ramachandran’s vision and determination to structure this center of Indian traditional music and performing arts on strong foundations for the benefit of the people at large in the cultural capital of India. In keeping with the founder Secretary’s abiding principles of integrity and transparency, the organization has continued to fulfill its core objectives under a team of duly elected office bearers; contributions to HAMSADHWANI are exempt from tax under section 80G and its books of accounts are duly audited and certified.
Hamsadhwani is one of the very few cultural organizations in Tamil Nadu which have been recognized by the State Government of Tamil Nadu with a ‘Kalaimamani Award’ for exemplary service in the field of art and culture.
Hamsadhwani stands out as a unique organization of its kind mainly because of the several innovative and pioneering initiatives it has introduced. Chief among them are:
- Spreading Indian traditional music and performing arts in the international arena, especially with the support of amateur artistes among Indian diaspora in countries abroad; providing a platform every year for the last twenty years to NRI artistes to showcase their talents to discerning Indian audiences. Hamsadhwani’s NRI festival is today a household name among Indians abroad.
- Creating a broad cadre of young children to appreciate, understand and learn Indian traditional art and culture by establishing a music school as part of the parent-organization. The Hamsadhwani Music School has been consistently performing well, with an incremental addition of students every year, learning vocal and instrumental music, percussion instruments and Indian dance.
- Organizing special events to pay homage to the immortal trinities of Indian traditional music and other legends of Indian art and culture – to mention just two: A special annual Saint Composer Thyagaraja Award, Sri Purandaradasa Award, etc. Organizing special events show-casing the virtues of Guru-Sishya- Parampara with special honors to senior teachers of music and performing arts.
- Identifying and supporting every year one senior indigent stage actor and a senior musician with a purse, as a token of recognizing their contribution to their respective art.
- Organizing every year a 10-Day Theater Festival as part of Annual Event – to present select pieces of stage-plays both as an encouragement to theater art as well as for the benefit of theater lovers.
- Presenting annually a ‘Distinguished Citizen Award’ (in cooperation with SriKrishna Sweets, a patron of our organization) to individuals or organizations who have made outstanding contributions to the society at large (some of the organizations and exemplary individuals on whom this award was conferred in the last few years: Dr. V. Shantha, Director, Cancer Institute, Dr S.S. Badrinath, Sankar Nethralaya, Prof. MS Swaminathan, Dr S. Krishnaswamy, pioneer Director, Dr Kumararani Meena Muthiah, Educationist, K. Balachander, Director, Mrs YG Parthasarathy, Educationist, Dr K. Parasaran, former Attorney General).
- Identifying and recognizing persons of excellence in their respective fields of activities – this is a special award instituted in the name of the Founder Secretary to honour people of eminence for their outstanding contribution to the society (the recipients of this award include: The Hindu, Voluntary Health Service, Madras Sanskrit College, NGOs such as Amar Seva Sangam, Vishranthi, Akshya Trust and RASA).
- Promotion of Hindustani Music with an annual Hindustani Week as part of Annual Festival of Music and Drama.
- Encouragement to folk- and rural-music including musical discourses, and temple music.
- An annual event as part of our NRI Festival to show case the talent of young amateur dancers among the Indian diaspora spread across different continents.
The period since Hamsadhwani’s inception in the year 1990 has indeed been truly eventful: close to four thousand individual programmes successfully organized, several promising junior artistes motivated and encouraged, hundreds of artistes (young, upcoming and accomplished) presented under its banner, dozens of illustrious achievers recognized and honoured and several hundreds of young children initiated in the art of appreciating and understanding our lofty tradition and culture. As an organization known for its integrity and honesty, Hamsadhwani enjoys the goodwill of all the stakeholders – its members, sponsors and patrons, artiste-fraternity, the print and visual media, government agencies etc.
Successful and sustained operations of organizations of the like of Hamsadhwani depend on the generosity and patronage of corporate and business houses, individual donors and philanthropists, lovers of music and art, etc.