The cultural affairs ministry has announced a 26-member new executive committee for Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, abolishing the previous committee.
The ministry issued a notification in this regard on Sunday.
The previous committee was formed on October 17, 2024, after the mass uprising that ousted the authoritarian Awami League regime on August 5 past year.
On the committee, the cultural affairs adviser holds the post of the president and the BSA director general is the member secretary of the committee, said a press release.
Along with representatives of different ministries and organisations, the committee consists of 13 cultural activists.
Nazrul artiste Ferdous Ara, Dainik Amader Shomoy executive editor Ehsan Mahmud, pioneering photographer Nasir Ali Mamun, cultural personality Tajnuva Jabeen, art critic Abu Hena Abid Zafr, filmmaker Wahid Anam, filmmaker Mohammad Tauqir Islam, baul singer Shah Noor Jalal, dance artiste Farhana Chowdhury Baby, theatre activist Haider Ali Sarkar, musician Hamin Ahmed, dance artiste Tamanna Rahman and theatre activist Kamal Bayezid have been appointed to the committee with a three-year tenure, said the release.
The release also said that the committee would organise a meeting every three months and the government could abolish or reform the committee.
Anyone can resign from the committee by submitting an application to the president of the committee, said the release signed by a deputy secretary of the cultural ministry.
Earlier, theatre activists Azad Abul Kalam and Samina Lutfa Nitra, Chhayanaut Sangeet Bidyayatan teacher Layeqa Bashir, and Dhaka University dance department assistant professor Agnes Rachel Perris on October 1, 2025, resigned from the committee formed on October 17, 2024, while writer-researcher Altaf Parvez also resigned from the committee after the resignation of BSA director general Syed Jamil Ahmed on February 28.
Renowned theatre director and researcher Syed Jamil Ahmed was appointed the DG of the academy on September 9, 2024, for a two-year term, but he resigned in February 2025 alleging administrative interference and bureaucratic obstacles created by the cultural affairs ministry.
Poet Rezauddin Ahmed Stalin was appointed to the academy as the DG on September 21 for a one-year term.
