Tepantar Theatre Village, the only of its kind to promote local theatre is coming up as a cultural tourism hub. The village is situated at Satahania village, Kanksa block, Durgapur subdivision in Paschim Burdwan. The village developed by Ebong Amra, a group of local people in 1994.
The campus which was set up in 1999 stands on 4 acres of land and is situated between Panagarh and Bolpur. There are poultry and fishery farms along with seven cottages and five dormitories and can accommodate 70 people. There are open air stage and indoor performance space. Ebong Amra organises annual national theatre festival and Tepantar mela when various articles made by local artisans are showcased.
There is a school where local art and cultural are taught to the students. Kallol Bhattacharya, artistic director of Ebong Amra said Tepantar Village and the local heritage and culture is becoming very popular. The school authorities in Purba and Paschim Burdwan are showing keen interest and already 300 students and teachers visited the village. “ We take them to the nearby places which include Ichhai Ghosh’s Deul, 300 year old brass made Rath,300 year old Nilkuthi, ASI protected monuments among others. We had observed World Tourism Day on 29 September, 2023 supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Eastern Region”
Mr Sagnik Chowdhury, DDG and Regional Director (East) ministry of Tourism visited Tepantar Theatre Village site on 30 December 2023 and interacted with local people. He visited the heritage sites. It may be mentioned that Korea Partnership Initiative of Sustainable Tourism, is an initiative of the Government of Republic of Korea. It has 25 countries as members including India. KOPIST had organized a global plan contest in 2022.
Out of all the participating countries, India won the first prize. Due to this win, India has qualifies for Official Development Assistance ( ODA) from Republic of Korea to the tune of US$ 4 million. The project concept has been prepared and approval of the Ministry of Finance is awaited. The subject of India’s winning plan was enhancement of life quality of local communities of West Bengal through community led sustainable tourism focusing on intangible cultural heritage at the site of Kanska Block under Paschim Bardhaman.