Kutiyattam Kendra, the Centre for Kutiyattam, Thiruvananthapuram was inaugurated on 27th May 2007 by the then Governor of Kerala Shri R.L. Bahatia in the presence of the then Chairman SNA Shri Ram Niwas Mirdha and members of the Sangeet natak Akademi’s Executive Board.

The Kutiyattam Kendra has been set up as a logical development of Akademi’s Project of Support to Kutiyattam launched in 1990-91 for preservation and promotion of the classical Sanskrit Theater of Kerala. The Project was designed as a total care programme and it provided regular support to the handful of institutions and artists existing in the field, by way of funding training and regular performances, besides maintenance grant etc.

Akademi’s Kutiyattam Project revived the dying tradition in a sustained way and made possible the conduct of a national level Kutiyattam Mahotsav organized by the Akade mi at Delhi in 1995, which became a landmark in the contemporary history of Kutiyattam and was hailed by the Master Ammannur Madhava Chakyar as return of the Golden Age of Kutiyattam. The event also brought Kutiyattam into the national cultural consciousness as a classical heritage of India.

The decade long support programme of the Akademi yielded substantial results when the UNESCO declared Kutiyattam as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2001.

The proposal of upgrading Akademi’s Kutiyattam Project into a full-fledged Centre for Kutiyattam was subsequently mooted in 2005 by Shri Kavalam Narayana Panikkar, then Vice Chairman SNA, and was finally approved in July 2006 after detailed deliberations and successive meetings of the Executive Board and in due consultation with the approval of the Government of India, Ministry of Culture.
It may be emphasized that the Kutiyattam Kendra has been set up as a “Centre for Kutiyattam” and, is meant to provide support to the entire field of this classical Sanskrit Theatre. It is not intended to work as a training institution. Its mandate includes:
a) funding of all the gurukulams and training institutions for their training activity, production, maintenance and performance within
Kerala

b) to support documentation, research and publication in the field
c) to sponsor Kutiyattam performances within and outside Kerala
d) to organize monthly Kutyattam performances in collaboration with cultural
institutions, universities, educational institutions, temple trusts and residents’ associations all over Kerala.
e) to organize annual festival, seminars, lec-dems and workshops of Kutiyattam
f) to establish a Kutiyattam complex with space for Koothampalam, library, archive
and museum.

The Kutiyattam Kendra may also take up the matter of preservation of traditional performance spaces.

The management of Kutiyattam Kendra rests with the Executive Board of the Akademi, which is assisted by the Advisory Committee of the Kendra headed by Vice Chairman SNA. The Advisory Committee includes Secretary SNA, Secretary (Culture) Kerala, two members of Executive Board of SNA, besides one Chakyar (traditional master of acting), one Nambiar (traditional master of percussion) and one scholar of the art.

The present Advisory Committee members are, Smt. Leela Samson (Chairman, Sangeet Natak Akademi), Shri G. Venu, (Secretary, Ammannur Chachu Chakyar Smaraka Gurukulam); Shri Margi Madhu, (traditional master of acting); Shri Unnikrishnan Nambiar, (traditional master of percussion); Dr. K G Paulose, (Scholar) ; Dr. V Venu, (Secretary Tourism and Culture, Government of Kerala), Smt Ranjana Gauhar, (member Executive Board, SNA); Shri Jayant Kastuar, (Secretary, SNA), and Shri K.K. Gopalakrishnan, Project Director (Ex-officio). It presently functions from a rented premise and, will have its own space in due course.

The following Kutiyattam institutions are functioning under the Kutiyattam Kendra :

1. Margi, Trivandrum
2. Ammannur Chachu Chakyar Smaraka Gurukulam, Irinjalakuda, Thrissur
3. Mani Madhava Chakyar Smaraka Gurukulam, Lakkidi
4. Pothiyil Gurukulam, Mangaam, Kottayam
5. Nepathaya, Moozhikkulam, Aluva
6. Painkulam Ramachakyar Smaraka Kalapeedom, Cheruthuruthi, Thrissur
7. Krishnan Nambiar Maizhavu Kalari, Chathakudam, Thrissur
8. Koppu Nirmanakendram, Kkothavil Vellinezhi, which is the only institution in Kerala engaged in the manufacturing of ornaments and headgears for Kutiyattam.