Jammu | Jan 23 Balwant Thakur, the director of Natrang has been nominated to the Indian Council of Cultural relations (ICCR), Ministry of External Affairs as an expert of the sub-committee responsible for selecting the cultural groups for their performance outside India. This high-powered committee includes Secretary Natak Akademi, Director National School of Drama, H. Kanhailal, (Manipur) Ms. Anuradha Kapoor, (Delhi) and Suresh Dutta, (Kolkata). Thakur is the, first person from J&K to have achieved this distinction. Being the former secretary of the J&K Academy of Art Culture and Languages, he is the highest honuor holder in performing arts and has been the fellow of the prestigious the Ford Foundation (USA) for six years, and have participated in highest number of theatre festivals. He has been honored with Sanskriti Award, Abhinayak Samman, Gurushree Samman, Sapatrishi Samman, Dogra Rattan, Natya Shri, Kala Shri, Punjab Arts council Honour, Kerala Sangeet Natak Academy Honour, and Himachal Pradesh govt. honour. He has also served on the boards of Sangeet Natak Akademi, Lalit Kala Akademi, North Zone Cultural centre, Madhya Pradesh cultural Department, National School of Drama and Sanskriti Foundation.
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