Assam Fine Arts and Crafts Society is the pioneer of the study, practice and promotion of art and craft medium in the North-East. Formed way back in 1971 with the initiative of distinguished visual artist Neelpavan Barua, this fora had the privilege of being blessed with the involvement of a batch of outstanding writers and cultural personalities of Assam, such as, Bharatratna Dr Bhupen Hazarika, Sahitya Akademi’s former President Dr. Birendra Kumar Bhattacharjee (also the first-ever Jnanpeeth Awardee from the North-east and the founder President of the Society), Sahitya Akademi Award Poet Padmashree Navakanta Barua, noted writer and Sahitya Akademi Award winning eminent poet Nilainani Phukan (also an Honoured Fellow of Sahitya Akademi), Kalaratna Shobha Brahma (Former Principal, Govt. College of Art and Crafts and former Vice Chairman of Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra, Assam) and others. Besides Neelpavan Barua and Sonaram Nath, some other persons of eminence involved with the Society directly are Sahitya Akademi Awardee and Soviet Land Nehru Awardee poet Late Hiren Bhatttacharjee, distinguished film personality Late Podum Barua, Abani Chakraborty, Hemanta Das, Samir Choudhury, Samir Tanti, Samiran Barua, Noni Borpujari, Dilip Tamuli, Temsu Yengor Longkumar, Ganesh Gohain and others.
After completing nearly 48 illustrious years as a catalyst in promoting the spirit of creative pursuit in the arena of fine arts, the Assam Fine Arts and Crafts Society procured a multi-storeyed, multipurpose complex adjacent to its office at the Judges’ Field, Guwahati. It is indeed a matter of great achievement that the Society could gather sound financial assistance from Guwahati Municipal Development Authority (GMDA) for this purpose.
Some more assets to this complex will be seen within a couple of years and these are: an art gallery, a seminar hall, a platform, a huge studio, library, documentation centre and others. The total cost of the completion of this five-story complex as estimated by the designer was Rs 5.00 crore (as in 2009) and we sincerely hope that with financial support from a few public sector undertakings and financial establishments, the complex will be ready within a time span of maximum five years. One of the main and most significant aspect of the Society is its teaching wing. The Society has been imparting teaching and training of fine art to the schoolchildren since last over two decades. After considerable deliberation it was decided that the Society would draw up a curriculum for art classes and conduct a centralized examination in schools who seek affiliation.
For the development of centre of education for aesthetics and visual art, we have prepared a curriculum in proper way and established more than 400 training centres in various places of Assam the North-East. We are looking forward for expansion of this scheme to other explored areas of the greater North-Eastern Region. Uttaran, the annual function in which around 4,000 visual art-trained schoolchildren are gathered in one platform to promote the spirit and enthusiasm of the young generation. Our main objective behind this is to enhance their creative and constructive mindset, and also to develop their basic attitude towards the greater field of art and culture with required inputs. On this occasion, we unfurl before the children various space and avenues to meet and interact with the celebrities of visual art and other related art forms. Distribution of certificates of proficiency among the successful students of over hundreds of our affiliated visual art centres is another significant agenda of this convergence.