Sangeet Natak Akademi announces ‘self-nomination’ process by artistes for its awards

A new initiative by Sangeet Natak Akademi, in its annual award nomination process, has raised eyebrows in the world of performing arts. The notice urges artistes, who wish to get this prestigious award in the field of arts, to go online and self-nominate themselves. The process earlier was based on recommendations of fellow artistes and awardees.

According to the new initiative, nominations by earlier awardees will also have to be done online. SNA awardee and stalwart Hindustani vocalist, Pt Sajan Mishra is sceptical about the change. “Expecting senior musicians to make recommendations through a cumbersome online process is not a practical idea. I feel it would be ideal for the members of the SNA committee to select artistes for the awards.”

SNA chairperson, Sandhya Purecha defended the initiative saying, “This is the first time in the over 70 years history of the Akademi  awards that this decision has been taken. Earlier, there was no recourse for artistes who had been inadvertently overlooked. But, when I took the office; I felt the selection process needs to be democratic and not be limited to prior awardees or institutionalised  recommendations.”

Another added feature is to include YouTube links to a performance in the nomination form. Sandhya says, “these are performing arts, so one must be sure the nominee is still a performer. It is now compulsory for an artiste to maintain YouTube links. There was opposition, specially from theatre artistes, but the rule stands.”

The selection process will go through the 72-members of the General Committee and Advisory Committee. The four-layered process will examine the nominations in depth, involve more time-consuming procedures — resulting, hopefully, in the emergence of ‘heere’ (gems), reiterates Sandhya.

A major glitch, Sandhya expects, could be from senior artistes, who may hesitate to nominate themselves for the award. Veena exponent and SNA Awardee, Jayanthi Kumaresh, feels: “My generation of musicians are used to being called by an organisation and honoured. Our generation feels whatever we have done is not enough. Nominating oneself for a job is different; this nomination will require a paradigm shift in thought. However, there is a plus too — many deserving performers, who are not popular and who may not have others nominating them may get an opportunity. I think it needs a couple of years for us to decide.”

Sandhya seems to have factored this in, by deputing officials to connect with artistes to facilitate self-nominations. She says, “in the more remote areas, artistes are not so familiar with the internet, so I have deputed people to physically connect and help them. I am taking daily reports on how many artistes have been approached. The award’s focus remains ‘for the artists, by the artists’, but the process has been expanded for a greater reach.”

The perspective of senior dancer-choreographer Malavika Sarukkai seems to represent the dominant perspective of fellow artistes. She say, “Personally, I was surprised to see that SNA announced the self nomination initiative. In cases in which the artist is not well known this method might help. However, for the most part, I do not see the purpose of self nomination. The critical part is in the hands of the selection committee and the process of selection needs to be based on merit, contribution and expertise in respective disciplines.”