The National Assembly Standing Committee on Information, Broadcasting & National Heritage on Monday proposed that a structural change in the working of Pakistan National Council of Arts (PNCA) is required to make it more efficient and effective. The committee, which met with Marvi Memon in the chair, was briefed about the working of PNCA and government policy on promoting art and heritage.
During the course of meeting, the committee members unanimously suggested that the Director General (DG) of PNCA needs to be selected on a competitive basis. There is a need to create a stronger private-public linkage that will help address grievances of the artists. Besides appointing DG from artists' community, the governing body of the PNCA needs to have a significant representation from people of art and culture on a three-year rotation period, the committee suggested.
About the Board of Governor (BoG) and executive committee of the PNCA, the committee suggested that the current BoG and its executive committee should be made functional at once as per the legal provisions. The committee members also proposed that the PNCA's policy should clearly outline its outreach for artists with disabilities and cater to their needs. They resolved that a policy needs to be defined by PNCA for talent acquisition and social media can also be used to help achieve this objective.
The committee suggested that "Art Acquisition Committee" needs to meet yearly and should be made functional immediately and the PNCA should design an agenda on a priority basis so as to create employment opportunities and job creation for the artists certified from PNCA. PNCA should complete the structure of its council and its 27 members with immediate effect and on merit. PNCA should integrate divisions in its three regional groups to promote national integrity.
A committee member proposed that PNCA should conduct art and cultural activities in local schools and far-flung areas free of cost and give the committee a yearly plan. PNCA should immediately revive "National Art Exhibition" and "National Music Festival" which are mandatory to be conducted every year, the members also proposed. The Government should plan international exhibitions of Pakistani art and participation of Pakistan in important international art events, such as Venice Biennale, so the country's image as a civilised, cultured and peace-loving nation spreads and improves globally. A list of all such international events need to be part of the calendar for targets of PNCA, the committee proposed.
The committee members also resolved that Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) must ensure that broadcasters should follow the 10 percent rule of airing foreign content on TV/radio networks to provide local artists equitable playing field. The government should ensure implementation of copyright laws and royalty collection for both local and foreign content aired.
The committee further suggested that above-mentioned royalty should be poured into a centralised agency which should be supervised by the Intellectual Property Organization (IPO). The revenue from public broadcast should reach the entire team connected with the piece of art aired.
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