A 15-day workshop on ‘Folk and Tribal Performing Arts of Mech Community of North Bengal’ was organised by the West Bengal State Akademi of Dance Drama Music and Visual Arts, Rabindra Bharati University in association with the Sangeet Natak Akademi. The event was held at the Jorasanko Thakurbari.

The objective of holding this workshop was to popularise the rich and rare traditional folk and tribal performing arts of the Mech community of northern West Bengal, which face threats of extinction. Their population is not large and few people of this community practise these arts. These facts were revealed in a field survey conducted by the Akademi some time back. The workshop forms a part of the Akademi’s project aimed at research and documentation on the subjects of the surveys and this workshop.

This workshop was conducted by Mech gurus Raja Singh Thakur, Kali Kumar Narjinari and Rajib Thakur, who was assisted by Kiran Thakur, Krish Narjinari, Anil Thakur, Rojen Narjinari, Hironbala Thakur Narjinari and Sujit Thakur. Nearly 40 students took part in this workshop.