PATIALA TO HOST FIRST ‘PANORAMA PUNJAB’ INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL

February 28, 2018 - PatialaPolitics

“The royal city of Patiala is basking in the glory of the enormous success of the recently held ‘Patiala Heritage Festival-2018’ at Qila Mubarak and furthermore, the city has been flooded with offers from the organizers of the National and International repute to hold their events at the qila Mubarak.”

Disclosing this here today during a joint press conference with Former minister of state for External Affairs Mrs. Preneet Kaur at qila mubarak, the Cultural Affairs and Tourism Minister, Punjab, Mr. Navjot Singh Sidhu said that eminent actress and award winning filmmaker Sarah Singh is organizing a 2 day International Arts Forum under the name of ‘Panorama Punjab’ (1stInternational Contemporary Arts Forum of Punjab) on 3rdand 4th March here. The Chief Minister of Punjab Captain Amarinder Singh would inaugurate the event. The occasion was marked by the presence of MLA Rajpura Mr. Hardayal Singh Kamboj and Mayor of the Municipal Corporation Mr. Sanjeev Sharma Bittu.

Elaborating further, Mr. Sidhu said that this novel event would attract representatives from museums of 5 countries besides prominent personalities associated with the art field from India and abroad. He added that the 10 day heritage festival recently held was attended by more people than had visited qila Mubarak during the past 10 years. This would lead to this grand cultural heritage of Patiala emerging as the epicenter of tourism in a grand way. The minister further said that he would himself go to the International Festival to be held at ITB Berlin from 7th-10thMarch and meet international tour operators to ensure that the Patiala Heritage Festival is included amongst the International Cultural Calendar.

Mr. Sidhu also divulged that as per a proposal of the Captain Amarinder Singh led government to boost tourism, heritage festivals would also be held at Amritsar, Kapurthala and Bathinda resulting in a big fillip to the economy of Punjab during the course of next 4 years. He also said that the ever illuminating light of Baba Ala Singh would not let this fort turn into ruins because Captain Amarinder Singh and Mrs. Preneet Kaur have emerged as the saviours of the rich heritage of Punjab and the services of eminent experts are being taken to preserve this symbol of cultural heritage of the state. Adding more, he said that under the proposed Maharaja Circuit in Punjab the cities of Patiala, Kapurthala and Jind (Sangrur) would be inter-connected along with Amritsar, Sri Chamkaur Sahib, Sri Anandpur Sahib and Fatehgarh Sahib in the Spiritual Circuit.

On the occasion, eminent actress and award winning filmmaker Sarah Singh said that noted film director Mr. Sudhir Mishra who lived in Patiala during 1968-69, fashion designer JJ Vallaya, Indian Architectural Conservationist and thinker Gurmeet Rai, Former Head of Publishing at the Harper Collins and now with Westland Publication Karthik V.K., Ambassador of Greece Panos Kalogeropoulos, Consul General of Canada Christopher Gibbins, Director of Pella Museum Elisavet Tsigarida, Director Collection of the Canadian Centre for Architecture Martin D. Vletter, Senior Curator Albert Museum Susan Stronge, Former Deputy Director Design of Museum Copenhagen Mirjann Gelfer, Associate Curator of the museum of modern art New York Sean Anderson and Editor of ‘Vogue’ & famous journalist Jill Spalding would attend the momentous event.

Disclosing more, Sarah Singh, who has made 2 films on partition of 1947 and late actor Om Puri, said that the main purpose behind this event is to make the Punjabis aware regarding keeping their culture and history alive in the foreign lands so as to guide the coming generations about this glorious heritage.

Among others present on the occasion included OSD to the Chief Minister—Mr. Amritpal Singh Honey Sekhon, Advisor to Mr. Sidhu—Mr. Angad Singh Sohi, Director Cultural Affairs and Tourism Mr. Shivdular Singh Dhillon, Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) Mrs. Poonamdeep Kaur, SDM Mr. Anmol Singh Dhaliwal, and Deputy Director Local Government (Patiala Region) Mrs. Jeevanjot Kaur.