About
To preserve and promote the culture, heritage, arts and literature of Kerala through state academies, grant-in-aid to cultural organisations, artist welfare schemes, and support for major cultural festivals.
Government of Kerala's tourism + cultural-affairs apparatus; funds festivals (Nishagandhi, Onam Week) and supports the Kochi-Muziris Biennale.
The Department of Cultural Affairs is the Government of Kerala department responsible for preserving and promoting the state's culture and heritage, working alongside the separate Department of Tourism, which promotes Kerala's cultural and heritage assets to visitors under the 'God's Own Country' brand. The Department of Cultural Affairs oversees a wide network of state cultural academies and institutions, including the Kerala Kalamandalam (a deemed university for classical Kerala art forms), the Kerala Sahitya Akademi (literature), the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi (performing arts, which also runs the International Theatre Festival of Kerala and Nishagandhi Dance Festival), the Kerala Folklore Akademi, the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi (visual arts), the State Institute of Languages, and a state-run institution also named 'Bharat Bhavan' based in Kerala, distinct from and not to be confused with the well-known Bharat Bhavan multi-arts complex in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The Department administers a range of honorary awards recognising artists (including the Ezhuthachan Puraskaram, Kathakali Puraskaram and Raja Ravi Varma Puraskaram), a pension scheme for artists in financial hardship, and grant-in-aid to cultural organisations statewide. Separately, the Department of Tourism sanctions funding for major cultural events, including the International Film Festival of Kerala, and continues to support and promote temple festivals and cultural events through 2026.
Initiatives & Portfolio
Deemed university for classical Kerala art forms.
Literature.
Runs ITFOK and Nishagandhi Dance Festival.
Visual arts.
Kerala's Department of Cultural Affairs is significant for the depth and specificity of its institutional infrastructure, a dedicated academy for each major cultural discipline (literature, performing arts, folklore, visual arts) rather than a single undifferentiated cultural department, reflecting a long-standing state commitment to classical Kerala art forms such as Kathakali and the UNESCO-recognised Koodiyattam. Its direct administration of an artist pension and hardship-relief scheme is also a distinguishing feature relative to most state cultural departments profiled in this Atlas, reflecting a welfare dimension to cultural policy beyond festival funding and institutional grants alone. Worth flagging clearly: the department oversees a Kerala-based institution also called 'Bharat Bhavan', entirely separate from the architecturally significant Bharat Bhavan in Bhopal; any content referencing 'Bharat Bhavan' in this Atlas should specify which one is meant to avoid conflating two unrelated institutions.