Infopark to host first techies’ arts fest next month

Kochi: Infopark, one of the major IT parks in the state, is going to witness the biggest cultural extravaganza in its history next month. Employees representing various IT companies will compete in the first techies youth festival in the state, Tarang.The fest would be held on the Infopark campus at Kakkanad from February 15 to 28. The cultural festival is being organized by Progressive Techies, a collective of IT employees in the state.Employees would participate in 100 different competition items in the intercompany youth festival.Free style group dance, fashion show, band, group song, ‘vanchippattu’, ‘chenda melam’, ‘panchavadyam’, group dance, ‘duffmutt’, ‘kolkkali’, semi-classical dance, ‘arabanamuttu’, ‘margham kali’, ‘thiruvathira’, ‘oppana’ and drama are some of the competition items in group category. Light music, Kathakali sangeetham mappilappatu, Kuchuppudi, ‘nadodinritham’, ‘kathaprasangam’, spot dubbing, poem writing, story writing, ‘vattappattu’, etc. are some of the solo competitions to be held as part of the fest.A team of 100 volunteers, each one from a company, has been formed for the smooth conduct of the fest.Programme committee member Nisha James said around 500 persons have already registered their names for participating in the competitions and the organizing committee is expecting that the number would be more than 10,000 as the number of employees in Infopark alone is more than 50,000. “IT employees from other states can also participate in the fest. But most of the participants would be from Infopark,” said Nisha.Mahinsha of Progressive Techies said the fest is an intercompany youth festival and each participant would represent an IT company. “We will announce the champion company on the final day of the fest, according to the points table, like in Kerala state school arts festival,” he said adding that many companies have already begun the practice sessions for their teams and the organization is expecting that the first arts festival for IT employees would be a big success.The venues of the fest would be arranged on the Infopark campus and schools in nearby areas of the park. The programmes would be open for the public to watch, on selected days, said organizers.