Ratnagiri, literal meaning

Mountain of Gems,
centrally located between Mumbai & Goa, is a rapidly growing costal town in Konkan

With its unmatched

Natural Beauty The sizzling shores & The misty mountains

With the arrival of Konkan Railway, a few Industries & the concept of Tourism, there came a gradual change in the traditional culture..

However, the love, want & thirst of the local people towards various forms of music & art

was not yet satiated

Realizing this

penchant of
the society towards Indian Classical Music & Traditional as well as new art forms

Came together a group, with the objective of cultivating healthy

cultural environment
in the Ratnagiri District

of Maharashtra
to form in late 2007, the Art Circle, Ratnagiri

To pursue the objective of promoting proclivity towards the Indian Classical music & various other art forms, it was decided to organize a major event in the last week of January, every year, in the form of a 3 day Art & Music Festival

To enhance the efficacy of the event, the chosen venue was the historical premises of the Thibaw Palace the architectural grandeur completed in 1909

by the British Government, for the king-in-exile

Thibaw Min of Burma (Myanmar).

The palace has been a notified historical monument under Archeological Department of Government of India

However, the then condition of this monument had become a matter of concern

But tireless & organized efforts created

a spellbound effect on the eve of 25th January 2008, the first day of the first Art & Music Festival

The enthralled effect of the first musical night was followed by an equally spectacular display of a variety of art forms in the Art gallery inaugurated on 26thJanuary

For the next 2 days the splendor of festival won the hearts of connoisseurs of Ratnagiri.

Every year since then, the art gallery displaying various forms of arts & related workshops, have become the attractions of the days; while the nights become glorious by the concerts of Indian Classical music by eminent artists in the field

25 January 2008

Malini Rajurkar

25 January 2008

Ninad Mulaokar & Ojas Adhiya

26 January 2008

Ulhas Bapat

26 January 2008

Manik Paranjape

27 January 2008

Kalapini Komkali

27 January 2008

Prasad Gulavani

22 January 2009

Rakesh Chaurasia & Vijay Ghate

22 January 2009

Rajabhau Shembekar

23 January 2009

Jaytirth Mehundi

23 January 2009

Vijay Ranade & Chaitanya Patwardhan

24 January 2009

Bharat Natyam: Kaninika Ninawe & Purvi Bhave

24 January 2009

Manjiri Asnare-Kelkar

22 January 2010

Sanjeev Abhyankar

23 January 2010

Katthak : Rupali Desai

23 January 2010

Satish Vyas

24 January 2010

Aarati Ankalikar

24 January 2010

Yogesh Katre

21 January 2011

Padma Talwalkar

22 January 2011

Kuchipudi : Bijal Haria

22 January 2011

Shahid Parwez

23 January 2011

Anand Kashikar

23 January 2011

Veena Sahasrabuddhe

27 January 2012

Ronu Muzumdar, Durgaprasad & Arvindkumar Azad

28 January 2012

Katthak : Aditi Bhagwat

28 January 2012

Raghunandan Panashikar

29 January 2012

Three Generations N Rajam, Sangita Shankar, Ragini & Nandita Shankar

29 January 2012

Shruti Padhye

Thus the musical nights of the last five years were festooned by the performances of these artists, which include renowned maestros as well as upcoming artists.

A similar combination of professional & amateur artists displayed their art in the art gallery & special workshops

Now, the Art & Music Festival has become an integral part of cultural activities in Ratnagiri & is regarded as a benchmark in this domain.

The success of the first Art & Music Festival raised the expectations of the citizens of Ratnagiri.

Pulotsav -the festival in the memory of P L Deshpande, the famous Marathi littrateur & performer, seemed to be the obvious choice to fulfill these expectations

Pulotsav includes interviews & performances of

Marathi stage, film & light music artists as well as rare documentaries related to arts. Senior celebrities in the field are also felicitated.

Art Circle initiated the felicitation of organizations dedicated to social cause - Samajik Gaurav in this festival for the first time in Maharashtra.

Pulotsav 6-8 June 2008

Pulotsav 12-14 June 2009

Pulotsav 1-3 October 2010

Pulotsav 4-6 November 2011

The patronage shown by people & their ardent love towards variety of art forms inspired & further motivated to organize other programs as well. Following are a few samples of what we did in the past.

13 November 2009 Centenary Year of Thibaw Palace

Aadipashya

26 Jan 2010

13 November 2010

A Musical Eve

20 February 2011

Swaranjali

16 April 2011

4 May 2011

Prakashvata

10 July 2011

15 Jan 2012

Kite Festival

Sambhaji Maharaj Death Anniversary

23 March 2012

We hereby appeal to you for generous financial assistance to help us propagate the cultural movement.
Apart from those who actually savor the delight of the events, we also reach thousands of people across the district through audio-visual media.

Throughout the publicity campaign we express our gratitude towards the munificent sponsors . This includes advertisement of the sponsor on hoardings & banners, in news papers & TV channels (pre-event); on the souvenir given to the audience & in the announcements (during the event); & finally in the media news of the event.