Chennai Sangamam and Namma Ooru Thiruvizha: The Official Record

Chennai Sangamam grew from a one-night folk show in 2022 into a multi-city Pongal programme costing over ₹16 crore. What the government’s own records say about its scale and money.

The numbers

The state’s Pongal-week folk festival in Chennai cost ₹6.30 crore in January 2024, according to the Department of Art and Culture’s 2024-25 policy note, which lists the Chennai edition at Island Grounds from 13 to 17 January 2024 with 1,500 beneficiaries. In the same year the government sanctioned a further ₹9.90 crore to take the Namma Ooru Thiruvizha format to other cities. In two years the event had grown from a single evening show into the largest line in the department’s festival budget.

The official record of the festival is thin but consistent. Read in sequence, the government’s press releases and policy notes show how it was revived, what it costs and how the money is split between Chennai and the districts.

From one evening to a city festival

The present series began as Namma Ooru Thiruvizha. A government press release of 19 March 2022 announced it as an annual folk art festival introduced in 2021-22, with more than 400 performers on 21 March 2022 at Island Grounds. It was organised jointly by the Departments of Art and Culture and Tourism, tied to the 75th Independence Day celebrations, and promoted with 75 short videos on Tamil folk forms. The programme ran from parai and karagattam to puli attam, kavadi attam and oppari songs.

By Pongal 2023 the festival carried the Chennai Sangamam name and had moved to a multi-venue format. The 2023-24 policy note records an inauguration at Island Grounds on 13 January 2023 and performances at 18 venues across the city from 14 to 17 January, with about 1,000 folk artistes presenting more than 40 art forms. It records ₹6 crore sanctioned for the festival across five cities.

Source: Govt of Tamil Nadu press release No. 433 (19 Mar 2022); Art and Culture policy notes 2023-24 and 2024-25

How the money is split

The 2024-25 note lists the cities that received the format in 2024: Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelveli, Salem, Thanjavur, Kancheepuram and Vellore. It prints three of their budgets: ₹39 lakh for Coimbatore, ₹38.50 lakh for Madurai and ₹36 lakh for Salem. Set against ₹6.30 crore for Chennai, the capital’s edition cost about 16 times Coimbatore’s. The Chennai event is multi-venue, runs five days and carries most of the lighting, sound and staging costs, so the gap is not surprising, but it does show where the money concentrates.

The 2023 figures show the same pattern less clearly. The note’s annexure lists only ₹4 lakh against the Chennai edition while the text gives ₹6 crore for the festival across five cities, so the split for that year cannot be read from the record with confidence.

Where it sits in the budget

The festival is paid from the Directorate of Art and Culture, created as a separate department in December 1991 according to the department’s website. In the Demand 29 book, festivals fall under the head Promotion of Arts and Culture, which spent ₹52.40 crore in 2023-24 and is budgeted at ₹47.38 crore for 2025-26. On 2024 figures, Chennai Sangamam alone is equal to about an eighth of that head, and with the ₹9.90 crore for other cities the Pongal festivals together come to roughly a third.

What the festival is for

The policy notes present it as a livelihood measure as much as a show. Folk performers depend on seasonal temple and private bookings, and a state festival in Pongal week offers paid work, a large audience and visibility for forms that rarely reach city stages. The state’s Folk Artistes Welfare Board counted 55,519 registered members in 2024-25, so even 1,500 places a year reach a small share of them. The notes do not say how performers are chosen.

The festival is one of several channels. The 2024-25 note lists seven regional art and cultural centres, district art awards for 660 artistes in 22 districts in 2023-24, and 82,748 artiste identity cards issued, up from 59,445 in the 2021-22 note. It also records ₹2 crore for 25 part-time folk art training centres. Set beside those, a five-day festival is the most visible part of the department’s folk programme but not the largest in reach.

What the record leaves out

The policy notes do not publish per-artiste fees, selection criteria, attendance or the full venue list, and the editions after January 2024 are not yet in a policy note available online. Venue lists and schedules are typically announced by the department in the days before Pongal. The festival also straddles a change of government: it was expanded under the previous administration, and its format for Pongal 2027 will be the first decision of the present one.

What this means for you

• Performances are free and spread across parks and grounds in Pongal week; venue lists appear shortly before the festival.
• Folk artistes who want to be considered should hold a current artiste identity card and register with the Directorate of Art and Culture.
• The festival budget is set each year, so the number of venues and artistes can change from one Pongal to the next.
• Questions on fees or selection can be put to the Directorate of Art and Culture under the RTI Act.

What to watch

Checked against official sources on 23 October 2026. Figures and rules change; confirm on the linked official pages before relying on them.

Sources

1. Namma Ooru Thiruvizha, Press Release No. 433, 19 Mar 2022 (DIPR, Govt of Tamil Nadu)
2. Art and Culture Policy Note 2023-24 (Govt of Tamil Nadu)
3. Art and Culture and Museums Policy Note 2024-25 (Govt of Tamil Nadu)
4. Demand for Grant No. 29, BE 2025-26 (Finance Department, Govt of Tamil Nadu)
5. Department of Art and Culture, Govt of Tamil Nadu