It has been an eventful 2010 on the cultural front — a flurry of events, be it in the spheres of theatre, films, dance, art or music. Though Dhaka was the centre of most of these happenings, in a relatively new phenomenon we had the privilege of seeing many of our talented cultural personalities making a mark in the international arena as well.

This was particularly true of the film circuit where many leading directors walked away with awards or emerged as serious contenders at film festivals.

Theatre was of course another area of excellence. We had many of our productions to boast of but we also adapted or translated famous international plays. Several of our

theatre works made it to international forum and won much acclaim. Art and music too cut across national borders.

Cultural exchange was the order of the day, with talented cultural personalities from India and elsewhere regaling Dhaka audiences, while our own artistes were highly visible overseas.

On the home front, we reached out to outlying towns like Mymensingh, Barisal, Bogra, Dinajpur and Rajshahi which offered the reader a welcome opportunity to update themselves with cultural events outside the capital.

Then there was a move towards cultural revival of indigenous art forms which we brought to the forefront in our section of the newspaper. One of the indicators was the recent move to revive the indigenous 'lathi-

khela', a traditional Bangladeshi martial art form which is in danger of dying out.

Street theatre in and outside Dhaka conveyed important social messages — against sexual harassment, dowry, child marriage

and other social scourges.

All in all it's been a year of change and growth culturally. And 2011 promises to be even better. So, stay with us and stay connected.