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By Prof Sunanda Mahendra

`We have a piano and a computer in our cultural centre, but both are of no use to us, as there is no proper programme to utilize those items. As such they are left untouchable abandoned', said one of the officers in charge of a cultural centre opened two years ago. `We are not in contact directly with any person who can effectively direct us to draw proper cultural programme via our cultural centre.' Those are some of the utterances we hear today connected with the so-called cultural centres, which are in the process of opening for the last few years. When one centre is opened another gets closed said one officer in charge of a cultural centre, opened three months ago.

Should this condition prevail? Can we not utilize them for human development? There are expensive film projectors given to our centres, but there is hardly a film to be shown, said another officer. Perhaps the film corporation or any other social unit will not lend a good film for monetary reasons prevailing in the industry. But there may be sources, which will help to obtain them properly.

The cultural centres should have a proper action plan to help masses to develop their skills, participation and understanding aspects of culture. As an initial stage, a television set with a video deck and a collection of good videotapes may be provided instead of film projectors and films, which is by and large an expensive item.

These videotapes should be selected in such a manner that they should help the community viewer to acquire sufficient knowledge in cultural heritage and aspects connected with the concept of people's participation.

In addition to this the cultural centres should at least have a reading room with good books and not the riff-raff published for commercial gains.

A scholarly elder like good teacher should be in a position to discuss matters pertaining to the significance of the reading habit and the selection of books, from various subject areas.

The young masses who so desirous of achieving some benefit from these centres should be helped or guided on what to read and what to view, by teachers who are knowledgeable in the relevant areas.

I know of several good teachers who wish to impart their achievements and share their interests with the younger generation. But they have not found the opportunity to do so, due to bureaucratic constraints in such places.

It would be good to keep cultural centres from commercial minded `Tuition Teachers'. Especially the instant spoken English quacks who pose a mighty image in cultural and educational activities in our countries. These commercial giants will bring about more disaster than good to the younger generation. I am not trying to generalize the issue but my observation is that even most temples have lost their serenity and sanctity owing to the `tuition academies' erected within the premises. Cultural centres could be utilized for a better purpose of building the aesthetic sense and scientific out look of masses. In this direction the authorities should consult the appropriate people and plan up, discussion circles, organized workshops on such aspects that are more suited to culture and education. It is observed that the decline of the three-tiered media education and culture may result in the degeneration of living standards. The cultural centres should make the best use of teachers, writers, poets, folklorists, opinion leaders, craftsmen and social reformers.

Each person who belongs to these categories will have a unique function to fulfil of planned properly. Teachers can sharpen their creative teaching methods via a cultural front amalgamating their ideas with poets and writers, when a live dialogue or a discourse emerges. The chances are that the existing desire to know more will be broadened. The process of broadening one's horizons will help build a better citizen for the world, bearing in mind the unique philosophical out-look of agreeing to disagree. It is with grave dismay that I state that though in the past, the provincial communicators like reporters and other media people were given an overdose of grammatical lessons, nevertheless their skills and creative communication abilities were undermined and overlooked. This to my mind resulted in bad reporting or bad investigative journalism, conveyed through somewhat error free conventional linguistic skills. The press council, I was told spends colossal amount of money utilizing Sinhala grammar (guras) and pundits for this purpose. This was nothing but futile or empty attempt, perhaps with generous attitudes of ignorance. Cultural centres should have a community programme of its own nature. For example, an important subject or topic could be selected for discussion, or invite an elder to express his or her views on the conditions that helped them to live long, or hold motivating programme for positive thinking etc. A list of talented people in the areas concerned could be drawn up, and help elevate their talents gradually. In this direction, the talents of the folk artiste could be utilized for cultural activities. A link between educational and media units and the cultural centres could be a fruitful process for the sustenance of a lively action programme. The vision of a cultural centre should be to help masses to basically, understand the various meanings of cultural process and inculcate and promote them for a better participatory living. 

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