Entertainment Desk

The Ministry of Cultural Affairs of the interim government has appointed a 15-member board of trustees to supervise the Bangladesh Artist Welfare Trust, dedicated to enhancing the lives of disadvantaged artists with effective projects and activities, for the next three years.

Dr Asif Nazrul, the adviser of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs will oversee the Trust as the Chairman, while the Cultural Affairs Secretary will be serving as the Vice Chairman. The Managing Director of Bangladesh Artist Welfare Trust will serve the board as its Member Secretary.

However, after the dynamic shift in the regime’s power as an aftermath of the student-led mass revolt which ousted the previous government, reforms have been implemented in the cultural arena as in other fields, leading to the inclusion of several noted media personalities in the newly formed board of the Bangladesh Artist Welfare Trust.

These new members are activist-academician-playwright-actor Samina Luthfa, popular playback singer Kanak Chapa, the ‘Mohanagar’-famed renowned filmmaker Ashfaque Nipun, and actress-puppeteer and activist Quazi Nawshaba Ahmed. On Sunday, Nipun and Nawshaba were also announced as the new members of the newly formed Bangladesh Film Censor Board.

The rest of the 15-member board of the newly formed Bangladesh Artist Welfare Trust includes several other prominent personalities, including the Director Generals of Bangla Academy and Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy, as well as joint secretaries from the finance and information ministries.

Three renowned young poets including Nahid Hasan, Imtiaz Mahmud, and Syed Jamil, alongside writer and educator Tuhin Wadud, are also announced as the new board members.