The Sangeet Natak Akademi at New Delhi is the academy of Music, Dance and Drama.
The Sangeet Natak Akademi (Academy) was established by Government of India in 1953 as an autonomous organization; promotes development of music, dance and drama; holds seminars, competitions, music festivals etc; gives grants to outstanding performing artistes, grants to institutes of music, dance and drama, financial aid to traditional teachers and scholarships to students; subsidizes and publishes research on performing arts; its tape and disc library has the largest collection of (Indian) classical, folk and tribal music and of dance and drama material; conducts two national institutes for imparting training in dance and drama – Kathak Kendra, New Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru Dance Academy, Imphal; helps in developing marionette and puppet theatre in the country, folk theatre costumes and equipment (masks, puppets, etc.) of which it has a representative collection in Yavanika (its own gallery); awards prizes for books in Indian languages and English in these three fields; makes eminent performing artistes Fellows of the Akademi; presents annual awards to outstanding artistes; conducts certain types of research in these fields; has its own gallery, Asavari of classical, folk and tribal musical instruments.
