Bhubaneswar: Classical arts are not only links with the past, but the foundation for current cultural thought and future artistic excellence, President Pranab Mukherjee said Saturday.

“Performing arts like dance, drama, music, which have been an integral part of our Indian identity and culture, need to be patronised for achieving greater cultural synthesis,” the president said at the golden jubilee celebrations of the Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya here.

He said new communication technology has been introduced to popularise classical music and dance forms across India.

“By the turn of the 20th century, classical music and dance in India witnessed a host of changes and re-inventions. The introduction of gramophone, radio and later on, cinema, served to popularise these classical music and dance forms across India,” he said.

The president said that since India was one of the oldest and culturally rich civilizations in the world, it was natural that performing arts have been an integral part of Indian identity and culture.

“Traditionally, these arts found patronage and flourished under enlightened rulers, who themselves, at times, were great exponents of music and dance. This system of royal patronage, however, broke down during the colonial period,” he said.

Mukherjee said state funding of the performing arts was instituted by the government post independence for setting up national academies for documenting and disseminating the knowledge of such art forms.

“The setting up these institutions is a continuation of these tradition wherein the state funds and promotes various forms and aspects of Indian art, music, dance, drama and culture-inherent in this is the realisation that our classical arts are our links with the past and, thus, both the foundation for our current thought and the platform of our future action,” he said.

On the Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, he said the institution has been living up to its vision of popularisation and dissemination of Odisha’s art and culture.