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Ruling alliance’s member of parliament, Rashed Khan Menon on Monday said theatre can be included as a fourth subject in the curriculum of the country’s secondary education.
   ‘The government has already included fine arts as a recommendation in the proposed education policy and theatre can be also included as a fourth subject in the curriculum,’ said Menon who is also the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on education.
   He was responding to demands by theatre activists during a dialogue between the policy makers and practitioners, organised by the Bangladesh centre of International Theatre Institute on the concluding day of the four-day regional seminar and theatre festival at the at the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.
   Sri Lankan cultural minister Piyasiri Wijenayaka, Bangladesh foreign secretary Mohamed Mijarul Quayes, ITI president Ramendu Majumder, Sri Lanka’s Tower Hall Theatre Foundation director general Dauglas Siriwardana, India’s Tripura state council for educational research and training director Subrata Sengupta, ITI Bangladesh centre president Ataur Rahman and professor Abdus Selim, among others, took part in the dialogue.
   Dauglas Siriwardana and Subrata Sengupta described their respective experiences and importance of the inclusion of theatre in the Lankan and Indian education curricula. They both emphasised the inclusion of theatre with other visual media in the curriculum and hoped that it would help in nourishing young talents.
   The discussants also said that wider practice of performing arts can enlighten the people and create an atmosphere of sustainable peace and harmony. They stressed that cultural advancement is also necessary for the development of the country.
   Many South East Asian countries pay due attention to the art and theatre education in the primary, secondary and higher levels of education, the speakers noted.
   Curtain of the four-day regional seminar and theatre festival fell with the presentation of ancient Sanskrit play ‘Mrichhalkatikam’ by the Dhaka University theatre department at the Experimental Theatre Hall.

A twelve-day international Ibsen seminar and theatre festival, to be organised by Centre for Asian Theatre, will begin in Dhaka from November 12, the organisers informed media at a press conference at National Press Club on Monday.
   Foreign minister Dipu Moni will be present as chief guest while national professor Kabir Chowdhury will inaugurate the ceremony at the National Theatre Hall of Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy at 4:30pm.
   A three-day seminar titled ‘Ibsen through new eyes: freedom and religion’ will begin from November 13 at the seminar hall of Jahangirnagar University.
   Noted professors and researchers from home and abroad will present keynote papers in the seminar. Theatre groups from Egypt, Iran, India, Nepal, Pakistan and the host Bangladesh will stage 21 Ibsen plays at Bangladesh Silpakala Academy during the festival.
   A three-day special workshop on the cultural transmission of Ibsen’s literary works titled ‘Ibsen Lab’ will begin on November 16, to be presided over by an eminent Australian Ibsen researcher Professor Julie Holtz.
   An eight-day screening of documentaries on Ibsen’s life and fiction and films based on Ibsen’s plays will also begin on November 14 at the academy’s rehearsal room 2.
   An eight-day interactive sessions, based on theatre productions staged in the festival, will begin at the academy’s conference room on November 16.
   The organisers will also honour seven eminent cultural personalities with the Ibsen award on the occasion.
   An art show on eminent playwright Selim Al-Din’s life and plays will also be held during the festival.
   Director general of Shilpakala Academy Kamal Lohani, IITF programme coordinator professor Shafi Ahmed, noted actor and CAT executive member Rokeya Rafiq Baby and CAT secretary general Mosharraf Hossain Tutul were present at the briefing.

A three-day photography exhibition titled ‘Endangered Environment: Endangered Human Beings’, began at the National Press Club auditorium on Monday.
   State minister for local government, rural development and cooperatives Jahangir Kabir Nanak inaugurated the show organised by the Photojournalist Multipurpose Cooperative Society Limited.
   Sylhet city mayor Badaruddin Ahmad Kamran, lawmakers BH Harun and Ilias Mollah, and Dhaka University teacher Abdul Mannan Chowdhury were present as special guests at the opening session chaired by Society president Abu Taher Khokon.
   Reminding that a single photograph speaks a thousand words and intensely inspires the community, Nanak hoped that the exhibition would create mass awareness about the environmental hazards.
   Badaruddin Ahmad Kamran said photographers uphold the true pictures of the society. ‘They capture the pictures of rivers and canals illegally grabbed by the influentials,’ he said assuring that the government is taking action against the grabbers.
   Abu Taher Khokon thanked the all the participants of the exhibition.
   A total of 150 photographs by 50 members of the organisation are being displayed at the exhibition that describes the affects of environmental hazard including land, river and canal grabbing, water and air pollutions, affects of industries wastes, struggling life for safe drinking water and river erosion.
   The exhibition is aimed at creating mass awareness, said the organisers who also plan to arrange similar exhibitions at the divisional headquarters.
   The exhibition sponsored by Grameen Phone will remain open for all from 9:00am to 8:00pm till November 11.

A weeklong book fair, organised by the publishing house Oitijjhya, will begin at five universities and five colleges of the country from today.
   The fair of fiction and non-fiction books will be held simultaneously at the Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh Agriculture University, Khulna University, Rajshahi University, and the Shahjalal University of Science and Technology.
   The fair will also be held at the Michael Madhusudan College in Jessore, Murari Chand College in Sylhet, Brojo Mohan College in Barisal, Brojo Lal College in Khulna and Government Azizul Haque College in Bogra.
   The publishing house will provide 30 percent discount to the buyers during the fair, said the organisers.
   ‘We will try to encourage the students in reading and in buying different kinds of books,’ Oitijjhya publisher Arifur Rahman Nayeem told New Age. The fairs will remain open from 10:00am to 7:00pm till November 16.

Moviyana Film Society will celebrate its 3rd founding anniversary by organising a national level seminar and a poster publication programme today at the Central Public Library in Shahbagh.
   Obaidul Kader MP will be present as chief guest while Tarana Halim MP and cultural personality Aly Zakar will be special guests.
   A seminar on film-culture and the evaluation of present condition of the film society movement in Bangladesh will be held at 5:30pm on the day.
   Moviyana Film Society president Belayat Hossain Mamun will present the keynote paper and film director Badal Rahman will preside over the session.

A band of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara region have been crowned the winners of this year’s Uncut Music Award for best album, reports BBC.
   Tinariwen won for their fourth album Imidiwan: Companions, beating the likes of Kings Of Leon and Bob Dylan.
   The prize is handed to the album judged to be the ‘most inspiring and rewarding’ of the past 12 months.
   Tinariwen, who formed in 1979 in northern Mali, were the only non-US act on the shortlist of eight.

Art exhibitions
   Colours of Nature
   Rhythm of life
   by Gulshan Hossain
   Time: 12:00pm to 8:00pm
   Venue: Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts
   Date: October 30 to November 10
   House 275/F, road 27 (old),
   Dhanmondi, Dhaka
   
   Of Conflict and Harmony
   By Architect Mustapha
   Khalid Palash
   Time: 11:00am to 8:00pm
   Date: October 23 to November 22
   Venue: Gallery Of Fine Arts
   Asiatic Society of Bangaldesh
   5 Old Secretariat Road
   Nimtali, Dhaka
   Photography exhibition
   A Borderline Case-The Fall of
   the Berlin Wall
   By Norbert Enker
   Time: 10:00am to 8:00pm
   Date: November 5 to November 16
   Venue: Goethe-Institut
   House no 10, Road no 9 (new)
   Dhanmondi, Dhaka
   
   Cultural Programme
   Organised by Bangladesh
   Academy of Fine Arts (BAFA) and
   Russian Centre of Science and
   Culture
   Venue: Russian Centre of Science
   and Culture
   House no. 42 (new), Road no 7
   Dhanmondi, Dhaka
   Theatre
   Shikandhi Kotha
   By Mahakal Natya Sampradaya
   Time: 7:00pm
   Venue: Nilima Ibrahim
   Auditorium
   Bangladesh Mahila Samity
   Bailey Road,
   Dhaka
   
   Film show at Star Cineplex
   Monpura
   Transporter 3
   Slumdog Millionaire
   Quantum of Solace
   Basundhara City Shopping Mall
   Panthapath,
   Dhaka