National Centre for the Performing Arts (India)

Members of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra rehearse at the Jamshed Bhabha theater, NCPA before their performance

The National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), in Mumbai, India was established with a grant of Rs 4 million from the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust. This was later supplemented by donations from the corporate sector. Registered as a society on June 8, 1966, NCPA has also been established as a public trust, whose principal objective is to serve the cause of the performing and allied arts.

Initially, established at a temporary setup at 89 Bhulabhai Desai Road, which housed a small auditorium, listening rooms and practice facilities, inaugurated by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 29th December 1969. Meanwhile, the 8-acre (32,000 m²) are was built on reclaimed land at Nariman Point where it is located today. .

The NCPA is also the home of the Symphony Orchestra of India.

Principal aims and objectives

Tata theater foyer

• To establish a national centre for the preservation and promotion of classical, traditional and contemporary performing and visual arts.
• To establish, equip and maintain schools, auditoria, libraries, archives, museums, studios, workshops and other facilities necessary to fulfil the above objectives.
• To disseminate knowledge, promote appreciation, provide training and sponsor or undertake scientific research in these fields with the objective of further development by encouragement of innovation within India and by interaction with the arts of other countries.

The Facilities

The NCPA complex occupies an area of about 32000 m² at Nariman Point, on land reclaimed from the sea.

The three main facilities at the NCPA include the 1109 seater Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, the 1010 seater Tata Theatre and the 300 seater Experimental Theatre.

Other facilities

NCPA Apartments

• The 200 seater Godrej Dance Academy Theatre
• 114 seater Little Theatre
• Piramal Art Gallery
• Jahengir Nicholson Gallery of Modern Art
• Centre for Photography as an Art Form
• The Mohile Parikh Centre for Visual Arts
• The Jindal Arts Creative Interaction Centre
• The Morarkha Center for Revival of Crafts
• Theatre Development Centre
• State of the art recording studio
• N M Wadia Library
• Reading and listening libraries
• Studio for archival documentation of dance, drama and music
• Teaching and research block
• Computerised music research laboratory
• Audio-visual archival vault with over 4,000 hours of recording and theatre research material, and a computerised databank for easy retrieval
• The Performing Arts Circle

Membership of the Performing Arts Circle (PAC) is open to students, professionals and lovers of art. NCPA presents 40 to 50 events in its various spaces every month. Nearly half of these are free for members of the PAC. Members of the PAC have free access to the well-equipped reading and listening library of the NCPA.

The Performances

Throughout the years NCPA hosted many performances including classical, traditional and contemporary performing arts in dance, theater, and music. Notable Indian performers who performed at NCPA include Vilayat Khan, M. S. Subbulakshmi, Birju Maharaj, Kelucharan Mohapatra, Mani Madhava Chakyar, Shakuntala, Smita Patil, Parveen Sultana and Shabana Azmi.

NCPA has also attracted many international performers including Yehudi Menuhin, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Navoi Bolshoi Ballet of Uzbekistan, Marcel Marceau, Barber of Seville opera, production of Jane Eyre, and other British Council commissioned theater productions. In 2006, New Jersey Ballet staged India's first full-length classical ballet with its Nutcracker production.

External links

• ncpamumbai