Mastercraftspersons Award and Crafts Fair 2014

National Crafts Council of Bangladesh and Bengal Foundation jointly organised an award ceremony and a four-day fair to  promote crafts that appear to be disappearing in  Bangladesh.
On March 6, at the open premises of Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts, Dhanmondi, the event was officially launched by the Cultural Affairs secretary Dr. Ranjit Kumar Biswas (ndc). National Crafts Council award winner craftsperson Suchitra Sutradhar attended the occasion as a special guest. Director general of Bengal Foundation, Luva Nahid Choudhury; former and present president of National Crafts Council of Bangladesh, Monira Emdad and Chandra Shekhar Saha spoke at the inaugural ceremony.
To retain the skills of the artisans  that reflect our history and heritage, the organisers arranged an award ceremony the Mastercraftspersons Awards 2013, where four artisans –Sangkori Tudu of Rajshahi for rural home decoration; Rafiqul Islam of Dhaka for rickshaw painting; Parveen Aktar of Noakhali for Comilla's khadi medium; and Jainal Abedin of Narshingdi for home textile were honoured. Each of the award winners received Taka 50,000 with a crest at the event.
A four-day crafts fair has also been organised. The fair continued till March 9. The fair is a huge attraction as it clusters together a plethora of crafts from all around the country. Twelve stalls have different items to offer, from musical instruments to handloom saris.
Alongside stalls set up by the award winners, Shobha Rani Paul and Kamola Rani Paul of Tangail displayed pottery, Ataing Marma of Bandarban and Pradip of Kushtia showcased bamboo baskets, Sabita Rani of Munshiganj exhibited mats, Nazmul Hasan of Chapai Nawabganj displayed brass utensils, Suchitra Sutradhar of Narayanganj showcased hand-made fans , Manika Adhikari and Kanak Baroi of Barisal exhibited ornaments made of palm and Keya leaves and water hyacinth, Anup Nag of Dhaka displayed conch flute and showpiece, Nimai Malakr of Magura exhibited shola and Bipon Kumar Singh of Sylhet exhibited Manipuri Shari at the fair.
The spectators at the fair also watched two workshops on making of tepa putul and shola art on the penultimate and concluding days of the fair respectively.
National Crafts Council and Bengal Foundation have embarked on the  critical course of encouraging and helping the artisans. The craftsmen, because of lack of business acumen, and a shrinking demand for many of these traditional demands, are finding it very difficult to cope financially. This is exactly the kind of promotion they need