Identifying and promoting talented young artistes in one of the assured means of preserving the traditional arts in live practice. With this in view the Akademi began an annual festival of young artistes in 1971. Between 1971 and 1976 four festivals were presented under the programme in which a total of about 70 dancers and 28 musicians participated. The programme was received in 1985, the international Youth Year, under the Yuva Utsav Scheme . Since 1985 eleven festivals of young dancers and musicians have been sponsored in different parts of the country, featuring a total about 110 soloists and 20 groups. We have spent approximately Rs.12 lakhs on this programme during the current Plan. The Yuva Utsav has served as a national platform for young artistes to launch their career and as a window on the young talent in the country. A number of artistes introduced in the Yuva Utsav subsequently attained wider recognition and prestigious assignments in other national and international events. An additional important gain has been the strengthening of Akademi's collaborative relationship with State-level bodies and establishing new ties and relationships.

i) Objective To identify and promote talented young artists of the country in the field of music and dance.

ii) Scope The scheme is being implemented since 1985 covering major styles of dance and Hindustani and Carnatic music. The scheme provides for zonal and national level festivals in different cities.

iii) Major achievements made during Xth five year plan and anticipated achievements for the current financial year.

About 20 festivals of young dancers and musicians have been sponsored in different parts of the country. The Akademi has also presented several festivals of young artistes under Swarnotsav series specially organized on behalf of the Department of Culture on the occasion of the completion of 50 years of the Republic.

The music and dance festivals held for the young musicians and dancers have created nationwide awareness relating to the upcoming artists in the field of dance and music. This has also created substantial interest amongst young practitioners of music and dance to take up performing arts as their career and helped establish them in their chosen field of art. Approximately 600 artistes have been promoted during X Plan.

During the year 7 festivals of young dancers and musicians will be held covering different zones of the country.

iv) Projection for the XI Plan (a) 8 Festivals of music and dance (2 for each zone) are proposed per year. In order to make the scheme more meaningful 10 outstanding talents will be selected from each zone for sustained support through performance opportunities, advance training and sponsorship for a period of three years. The financial allocation also needs to be expanded during the XI Plan period.