About
To take stock of the rich and varied cultural traditions in the field of the performing arts in the country, help in their preservation and development and promote cultural contacts among the different regions of India through music, dance and drama.
Government of India's national academy for music, dance and drama. Confers classical status on performing art forms, presents the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (India's highest performing arts honour), funds documentation of endangered traditions and organises national and international festivals.
The Sangeet Natak Akademi was established in 1952 under a resolution of the Government of India, with the Honourable Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as its first Chairman. It was the first of three national academies created to support the arts and culture of independent India, the others being the Sahitya Akademi (literature) and the Lalit Kala Akademi (visual arts). The Akademi's founding mandate reflected Nehru's view that the performing arts were central to India's cultural identity and required institutional support to survive the transition from court and temple patronage to a democratic public culture. The Akademi has three principal functions: recognition (through its awards and the designation of classical status to performing art forms), preservation (through its documentation programmes, archives and grants for endangered traditions) and promotion (through national and international festivals, exchange programmes and scholarships). Its decision to designate Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Kathakali, Kuchipudi, Manipuri, Mohiniyattam, Odissi and Sattriya as the eight classical dance forms of India has shaped the institutional landscape of Indian classical dance for over seven decades. The Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, presented at the national level, is considered the highest honour in India's performing arts.
Founding & Leadership
The Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's national academy of music, dance and drama, was the first national academy of the arts established by the Republic of India - created by a Ministry of Education resolution of 31 May 1952 and inaugurated on 28 January 1953 by President Rajendra Prasad in Parliament House, with Dr. P.V. Rajamannar as first Chairman. It is now an autonomous body of the Ministry of Culture, fully government-funded.
An autonomous body of the Ministry of Culture; managed by a General Council, with a Chairman appointed by the President of India for a five-year term.
Leadership & Trustees
Initiatives & Portfolio
India's highest honour in the performing arts, presented annually to outstanding practitioners of music, dance, drama, traditional/folk/tribal music, dance and theatre, puppetry and other creative arts. Recipients receive a cash award, a trophy (tamarapatra) and an angavastram.
The Akademi Ratna (Fellowship) is the highest honour, awarded to outstanding individuals who have contributed to the enrichment and promotion of Indian cultural heritage. The Akademi Puraskar covers a wider range of practitioners.
National-level documentation programme for endangered and threatened performing traditions, producing video archives, publications and ethnographic studies of forms including Char Bait, Yakshagana, Chhau and dozens of lesser-known regional traditions.
Annual festival presenting the eight classical dance forms and inviting young and established practitioners to perform on a national platform.
A grant scheme specifically supporting the traditional master-student transmission of classical and folk performing arts, providing financial support for ustads and gurus to pass their knowledge to the next generation.
Cultural Funding
Cultural verticals
Impact & Metrics
Partnerships & Network
Government partners
Funders & patrons
Credentials & Compliance
CSR-eligible · Not applicable (government body)
A fully government-funded autonomous body; not a CSR recipient.
Recognition
The first national academy of the arts established by the Republic of India; apex body of the performing arts.
The Sangeet Natak Akademi has shaped the institutional landscape of Indian performing arts more directly than any other single body. Its designation of eight classical dance forms created a two-tier system in Indian dance that has determined funding, teaching and recognition for seven decades. Its Awards are considered the definitive markers of national recognition for performing artists. Its documentation programmes have preserved recordings and ethnographic records of traditions that would otherwise have been lost. The Akademi also functions as India's primary liaison body for UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage nominations, making it the institutional gateway through which performing art forms from India gain international recognition.
The Sangeet Natak Akademi is the institutional body that gives the term 'classical' its meaning on Culture Atlas. Every artform in the Atlas that is designated classical derives that status in part from SNA recognition. The SNA therefore functions as a hub node in the Atlas graph, connected to all eight classical dance forms, Hindustani and Carnatic music, and dozens of recognised practitioners. Building institution profiles for each of the three national academies (SNA, Sahitya Akademi, Lalit Kala Akademi) creates a coherent institutional layer that contextualises the artform and artist profiles above them.