Minister for Local Self-Governments M.B. Rajesh will inaugurate the art festival that will be held on January 9 and 10 at Sree Narayana Guru Cultural Complex.

Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal will preside over the function while Minister for Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development J. Chinchurani will inaugurate the valedictory function.

M. Mukesh, MLA, Dinesh, executive director, Kudumbashree, and Mayor Ernest Prasanna will speak on the occasion. M. Noushad, MLA, will inaugurate the DUDS theme product marketing stall. MLAs P.S. Supal, Koovur Kunjumon, G.S. Jayalal, P.S. Vishnunath, and C.R. Mahesh, along with district panchayat president P.K. Gopan and Deputy Mayor Kollam Madhu, will also be present.

There will be a total of five venues, 15 events and 22 categories. The competitions will be held on five stages named Manju, Rangam, Sukrutam, Kadavu and Kaliveedu.

Participants were selected from Kudumbashree BUDS institutions, including BUDS schools for children with special needs and BUDS rehabilitation centres for those above 18 years. The winners of the district-level competitions are participating in the State-level festival.

A total of 13,081 students are currently undergoing training at the 378 BUDS schools under various local bodies.

A unique feature of this year’s Thillana is the online registration process for participants. Kudumbashree members are in charge of providing food to the contestants during the festival days. The organisers have arranged facilities that are similar to school and college art festivals. Adequate transportation and other facilities have been arranged to ensure the smooth conduct of the festival. The organisers have also planned various promotional activities such as a reels competition, wall paintings, kite flying and processions.