Cultural practices have seriously been affected due to inadequate rehearsal spaces in the capital.聽
Most of the cultural centres allocate their spaces on political consideration and their high rents have also decreased activities of youth cultural troupes.
Theatre troupe Opera鈥檚 assistant general secretary Nahid Smrity said that cultural practice is a non-profit activity in Bangladesh and most of the organisations run by its members鈥� subscription which cannot afford a permanent rehearsal room.
鈥楪overnment had given some allowance yearly for cultural organisations which was not enough in view of high rent of space in the capital,鈥� said Nahid Smrity, adding that a lot of cultural organisations abolished due to lack of rehearsal space.聽
Demanding a laboratory for experiment and more rehearsal rooms at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, theatre troupe Teerondaz Repertory鈥檚 director Deepak Kumar Goswami said that BSA should decrease the rent of rehearsal rooms.聽
Recitation troupe Baak Shilpangan trainer Monowar Mahmud Jewel said that the BSA cancels the allocations due to many government programmes at rehearsal rooms instead of rehearsal.聽
鈥楾here are a few rehearsal rooms in the city run by private initiatives which are also expensive. The government should make more rehearsal rooms dedicated for only cultural practice,鈥� said Monowar Mahmud Jewel.聽
Prachyanat founding member Kazi Toufiqul Islam Emon said that, due to financial and socio-religious issues, theatre troupes suffer for their own rehearsal room in the city.聽
鈥楲andlords do not feel easy to rent houses to a theatre group because the locals can complain about sound during rehearsal. On the other hand they also think theatre troupes cannot pay the rent,鈥� said Emon.聽聽聽
He also said that the local educational institutions stop allocating their premises to avoid social pressure which are also created from religious view.聽聽聽
BSA secretary Md Asaduzzaman, however, said they were trying to create more rehearsal rooms for cultural organisations of the country.
鈥楾here are some buildings under construction in the BSA premises. After completing these projects we can create many rehearsal rooms for the cultural troupes,鈥� he said, adding that the allocation process of the rehearsal rooms should be fair.
The BSA secretary also said that the BSA premises were used as a temporary army camp.
