Five veteran artistes honoured at JT Pac

KOCHI: Five veteran artistes were honoured at the annual JT Pac community meet held at the Choice House on Sunday. Janardanan Nedungadi, Thiruvizha Jayasankar, Pokkan Panicker, Narayanan Nambiar and P P Kannapperuvannan were honoured with a ‘ponnada’. The programme was inaugurated by lighting the traditional lamp by JT Pac chairman Mohanlal, president Jose Thomas, L Subramaniam, Thiruvizha Jayashankar and Dr Thomas Varghese.Kerala does not have many venues for internationally renowned artistes to showcase their talent. JT Pac is one platform for the artistes across the globe to come together and exchange their ideas, Mohanlal said in his address note. Jose Thomas welcomed the gathering. Pt Viswa Mohan Bhatt, artistes L Subramaniam,  Thiruvizha Jayashankar, actor Mukesh and first JT Pac member Dr Thomas Varghese also spoke at the occasion.JT Pac will be organising theatre workshops and interactive programmes for the audience to experience the real feel of traditional art forms, said Jose Thomas. He added that JT Pac will also showcase traditional and classical art forms from outside Kerala.The meet was attended by JT Pac selection members, artistes who have performed at JT Pac and fellowship artistes.JT Performing Arts Centre at Tripunithura focuses on preserving, sustaining, promoting and nurturing arts and artistes. It brings nationally and internationally renowned artistes to the people and introduces new art forms to art enthusiasts here. The fully air-conditioned theatre has all state of the art facilities and a seating capacity of 600 plus. The centre offers lifetime fellowship for 14 folk artistes.