About Sangeet Natak Akademi

• Sangeet Natak Akademi is the apex body in the field of performing arts in India. It is an autonomous body of the Ministry of Culture.
• The Akademi was set up in 1953 for the preservation and promotion of the vast intangible heritage of India’s diverse culture expressed in forms of music, dance and drama. 
• The management of the Akademi vests in its General Council. 
• The Chairman of the Akademi is appointed by the President of India for a term of five years. 
• Its headquarters is located in New Delhi.

Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships and Awards

• The Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards are the highest national recognition conferred on practising artists. 
• Akademi Awards may be conferred on eminent practitioners, gurus and scholars of music, dance and theatre for sustained individual achievement of high professional order.
  • The Akademi Awards have been conferred since 1952.
• The Akademi also confers Fellowships (Akademi Ratna) on eminent artists and scholars of music, dance and drama. It is considered as the highest honour given to an eminent artist in the field of performing arts for his/her exceptional contribution to his/her performing art form.  
  • The Fellowship of the Akademi is a most prestigious and rare honour, which is restricted to 40 at any given time.
  • The first Fellow of the Akademi was elected in 1954.

• The award of Akademi Fellow carries a prize money of Rs 3 lakh, while the Akademi award carries a prize money of Rs 1 lakh, besides a ‘tamrapatra’ (inscriptions on copper plates) and ‘angavastram’ (a traditional shoulder cloth).