Cultural activists have said that the activities of cultural institutions and organisations across the country decreased after the student-led mass uprising in July and August in 2024.
They alleged that many of them were compelled to postpone their activities due to security reasons.
The rate of decrease in the number of outdoor programmes is higher than that of indoor programmes, they said.
They also said that, after the mass uprising, the interim government appointed many renowned cultural activists to different committees and institutions, but most of them resigned due to the government鈥檚 incoordination and lack of an appropriate working environment.
Some of them said that the present situation occurred as many cultural activists and organisations failed to deal with the uprising politically.
Theatre troupe Prachyanat officials said that they usually performed 50 events a year in the past but the number had decreased to 35 between July 2024 and July this year.
According to the official Facebook page of cultural organisation Samageet, the organisation performed 50 events, mostly outdoor programmes, a year, but they could organise only 20 events in the past one year since July 2024.
Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy executive committee member Azad Abul Kalam said that the academy, led by an acting director general who is also the secretary of the organisation, was now running without any executive committee meetings since February.
鈥楾he academy, a government organisation under the cultural affairs ministry, has no representative from the artist community now in the decision-making process. The academy is running different events of the ministry to mark the first anniversary of the July Uprising,鈥� he said.
He said that the expensive drone shows and outdoor documentary film screening as a part of the programmes marking the anniversary had no impact on cultural activism at all.
Azad acknowledged that cultural activities had decreased significantly in the past one year due to the politics of 鈥榯agging as collaborators of the fascists鈥�.
He explained that professional artists who worked in different art projects during the previous regime were now compelled to become inactive as they were tagged as collaborators of the fascists.
He said that cultural activists joined the mass uprising with all other professionals to bring inclusiveness in the society, but after the uprising, the rise of right-wing politics had apparently been restricting women and religious and national minorities from attending cultural events.
鈥業t is alarming,鈥� he said.
Photographer and activist Jannatul Mawa said that a good number of artists and activists withdrew themselves from different government cultural organisations and committees due to the lack of an appropriate working environment.
She said that the unelected interim government鈥檚 advisers were working with the past regime-appointed bureaucrats.
鈥楾he bureaucrats are running the administration and the interim government is trying to prolong their tenure in the name of reforms,鈥� she said.
She alleged that the government was celebrating the first anniversary of the mass uprising without showing respect to the people鈥檚 aspirations for an inclusive society, curbing corruption, improving the law and order situation, and improving the financial condition.
鈥榃e, however, have not lost our hopes as people are still criticising any wrongdoing. People鈥檚 unity and aspirations will create a new mass-cultural movement,鈥� she said.
Artiste-director Deepak Suman said that 鈥榓 restless situation鈥� after the uprising had adversely impacted the country鈥檚 cultural activities.
Most of the theatre troupes have no activities after the uprising, and many troupes were not getting allocation of auditoriums, he said.
He said that Shilpakala Academy, after the mass uprising, organised many cultural events but, due to post-uprising restlessness, the overall cultural activities were interrupted across the country.
Artist and singer Amal Akash said that mob violence and security issues negatively impacted the overall cultural events. 鈥楾he situation may improve after the upcoming national election.鈥櫬犅犅�
He said that middle-class cultural activists and organisations failed to create a mass-culture movement as they used to run their activism on liberation war and anti-sectarianism issues, which the Awami League regime had cashed.
鈥楳any cultural activists and organisations failed to deal with the uprising politically. It has also created a stagnant situation in the cultural arena,鈥� he said.
He, however, hoped that an alternative cultural movement, holding the spirit of the uprising and aspirations of common people, would be formed soon and the stagnant situation would be overcome.
鈥業 think the number of cultural events has not decreased in the country,鈥� said Shilpakala Academy acting director general Mohammad Wares Hossain.
He said that the activities of the academy were going on normally in Dhaka, but the situation was not the same in their district units.
Neither the culture affairs adviser nor the secretary of the ministry could be reached for comments.
