Auditorium shortage major obstacle ��to cultural activities in Khulna

The cultural organisations in Khulna divisional city have long been facing problems due to inadequate number of spacious auditoriums with modern facilities, where are considered as an important cultural centre. Khulna is a riverine industrial and port city where there are over 15 lakh people living in 45.65 square km area in 31 wards. Due to lack of large auditoriums with better facilities, the number of cultural programmes in Khulna city is decreasing said Swapon Kumar Guho, convener of Khulna Cultural Development Committee. He also said in organising competitions for adolescents in the cultural functions on dance, singing songs, staging drama, quiz, debate and other subjects to focus on the bad impacts of social curses. Khulna Shippakala Academy has no own auditoriums for holding cultural activities, Swapon Guho further said.
While Dhaka and Chittagong have a good number of large and well-equipped auditoriums, Khulna is lagging behind in terms of hosting cultural events like plays, musical soirees and dance performances.
The cultural organisations find it difficult to present their performances in public due to limited number of auditoriums in the city, resulting in reduction in the number of cultural events.
Khulna Public Hall (Zia Hall), divisional museum auditorium, Khulna Club auditorium, Umesh Chandra Public Library auditorium and Khulna Press Club auditorium host cultural activities in the city.
Superintendent of Khulna Public Hall (Zia Hall) Maniruzzaman Rahim said the two-storey hall has 1,100 fixed chairs with the sound system and microphones. Its lighting arrangement is suitable for dramas, musical, recitation and dance programmes. Besides, it has another small conference room with 200 fixed chairs which is used by the cultural troupes for group practice or study.
But KCC authorities announced the building became unfit and too risky for the people from October 2010 because Zia Hall started developing cracks and other defects in walls, roof and floors after few years, Rahim added.Divisional Museum auditorium under Sonadanga police station in the city which has 220 fixed chairs and some portable chairs is lagging behind due to lack of other facilities. For dramas, the theatre troupes arrange lighting of their own accord, said drama artist Mostafa Sarwar. Despite its seating capacity, the cultural organisations hardly choose it for their shows. Regional director of Khulna Divisional Museum Md Amiruzzaman admitted the reality.
Umesh Chandra public library auditorium under Sadar police station did not receive any donations for its development in the recent times, said general secretary of the library Prof Anwarul Quadir. The lighting facilities of the hall are adequate only for hosting seminars with 150 seats but have no scope for cultural programmes, said librarian Shyamol Debnath. Shyamol blamed the management committee of the hall for the sorry state of the auditorium. The committee sits every two months to discuss several issues of the hall but surprisingly there is hardly any progress, he said. “Most of the members of this committee remain busy with their own careers having no attention to the hall,” librarian further said.
In Khulna Press Club (KPC) auditorium, one has to arrange sound systems, decoration, lighting arrangements and additional chairs of their own accord. Otherwise the organisers have to pay the authority to arrange the facilities, which discourage them from holding cultural programme, said Administrative Officer of KPC Sanjoy Kumar Roy. Besides, the stage and green room are not up-to-date.
 To encourage people to enjoy cultural events, it is very important to have good auditoriums. Besides, it will help promote and develop the cultural activities of Khulna city residents.
General Secretary of Khulna Shilpakala Academy Mokbul Hossain Mintu asked the young generations for arranging more cultural programmes to provide information to the grassroots people for creating awareness on the social curses, gender issues, marriage registrations, safe motherhood, maternal and neonatal mortalities etc.

Auditorium shortage major obstacle ��to cultural activities in Khulna

The cultural organisations in Khulna divisional city have long been facing problems due to inadequate number of spacious auditoriums with modern facilities, where are considered as an important cultural centre. Khulna is a riverine industrial and port city where there are over 15 lakh people living in 45.65 square km area in 31 wards. Due to lack of large auditoriums with better facilities, the number of cultural programmes in Khulna city is decreasing said Swapon Kumar Guho, convener of Khulna Cultural Development Committee. He also said in organising competitions for adolescents in the cultural functions on dance, singing songs, staging drama, quiz, debate and other subjects to focus on the bad impacts of social curses. Khulna Shippakala Academy has no own auditoriums for holding cultural activities, Swapon Guho further said. While Dhaka and Chittagong have a good number of large and well-equipped auditoriums, Khulna is lagging behind in terms of hosting cultural events like plays, musical soirees and dance performances. The cultural organisations find it difficult to present their performances in public due to limited number of auditoriums in the city, resulting in reduction in the number of cultural events. Khulna Public Hall (Zia Hall), divisional museum auditorium, Khulna Club auditorium, Umesh Chandra Public Library auditorium and Khulna Press Club auditorium host cultural activities in the city. Superintendent of Khulna Public Hall (Zia Hall) Maniruzzaman Rahim said the two-storey hall has 1,100 fixed chairs with the sound system and microphones. Its lighting arrangement is suitable for dramas, musical, recitation and dance programmes. Besides, it has another small conference room with 200 fixed chairs which is used by the cultural troupes for group practice or study. But KCC authorities announced the building became unfit and too risky for the people from October 2010 because Zia Hall started developing cracks and other defects in walls, roof and floors after few years, Rahim added.Divisional Museum auditorium under Sonadanga police station in the city which has 220 fixed chairs and some portable chairs is lagging behind due to lack of other facilities. For dramas, the theatre troupes arrange lighting of their own accord, said drama artist Mostafa Sarwar. Despite its seating capacity, the cultural organisations hardly choose it for their shows. Regional director of Khulna Divisional Museum Md Amiruzzaman admitted the reality. Umesh Chandra public library auditorium under Sadar police station did not receive any donations for its development in the recent times, said general secretary of the library Prof Anwarul Quadir. The lighting facilities of the hall are adequate only for hosting seminars with 150 seats but have no scope for cultural programmes, said librarian Shyamol Debnath. Shyamol blamed the management committee of the hall for the sorry state of the auditorium. The committee sits every two months to discuss several issues of the hall but surprisingly there is hardly any progress, he said. Most of the members of this committee remain busy with their own careers having no attention to the hall, librarian further said. In Khulna Press Club (KPC) auditorium, one has to arrange sound systems, decoration, lighting arrangements and additional chairs of their own accord. Otherwise the organisers have to pay the authority to arrange the facilities, which discourage them from holding cultural programme, said Administrative Officer of KPC Sanjoy Kumar Roy. Besides, the stage and green room are not up-to-date. To encourage people to enjoy cultural events, it is very important to have good auditoriums. Besides, it will help promote and develop the cultural activities of Khulna city residents. General Secretary of Khulna Shilpakala Academy Mokbul Hossain Mintu asked the young generations for arranging more cultural programmes to provide information to the grassroots people for creating awareness on the social curses, gender issues, marriage registrations, safe motherhood, maternal and neonatal mortalities etc.