Northern Voices (India)
August 12, 2010

Dharamshala -- The Dharmshala based Tibetan
Institute of Performing Arts today celebrated
fifty-one years of excellence in preserving and
promoting Tibet’s traditional theatrical arts and culture in exile.

His Eminence the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa Ogyen
Trinley Dorje graced the Yarkyi ceremony.

In his brief address, Gyalwang Karmapa said:
"Among many cultural and religious learning
centres established by His Holiness the Dalai
Lama after coming to exile, the Tibetan Institute
of Performing Arts has become the most important
centre of the preservation of Tibetan art and culture."

"The primary responsibility of TIPA is to
preserve and promote the vast repertoire of
theatrical arts that has been passed from
generation to generation in Tibet. Therefore, we
must express gratitude to the institutes’ past
and present members who have ceaselessly
contributed towards fulfilling His Holiness’s
wishes and the good of Tibet’s secular and
religious heritage. I called on the members to
continuously make concerted efforts," Gyalwang Karmapa added.

The institute has 112 members, including
artistes, instructors, administrative staff and craftsmen.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama established TIPA in
August 1959 to preserve the traditional
performing arts, as every aspect of Tibetan
culture and civilisation was threatened with the
Communist Chinese occupation of Tibet.