Facilities

Halls

In Architecture, a Hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. As more complex house plans developed, hall remained a large room for dancing and large feasts. There are different types of halls such as religious halls, meeting halls, collegiate halls. The type of hall which Lahore arts council owes is collegiate hall. There are three major collegiate halls and one Adabi Baithak which is specially made for Poets, writers, and philosophers of every genre. The details of the Halls is mentioned below.

Open Air Theatre

The Open Air Theatre is an extension of the Alhamra. The Ferozepur Road location was selected to take the pressure away from an overly congested Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam and to create a performing arts facility for the newly developed areas of Lahore i.e. Model Town, Faisal Town, Garden Town, Johar Town, Township, Gulberg and Defence, etc. The theatre sits in the midst of large green areas, at a stone’s throw from Lahore’s famous willow lined canal. Its imposing brick façade set with local regional features such as handmade Multani tiles is an interesting blend of the contemporary and the traditional classicism of the Roman coliseum. The multi-purpose theatre is designed to cater for drama, music, cultural melas and large scale concerts.

Art Gallery

The Arts Gallery extends over an area of about 11,000 sqft and is used for exhibition of art works for solo as well as group shows. It is divided into four parts and provided to artists free of charges. From the year 1998 it was decided to have painting or 10% of the commission from the artists mounting solo exhibitions. The Arts Gallery is really a remarkable facility for the artist community and has gone a long way in the promotion of fine arts. Quite a few artists from all over the country have exhibited their work. It encourages the younger generation in art education and attracts public appreciation. Consequently, there develops a market for the art works and people interested in arts under international standards exchange programs, with Federal Government, many exhibitions of arts, sculpture, architecture and handicrafts are held which provide ample opportunities to the local artists to see standard of work in the world. In addition to national exhibitions of paintings and groups including solo shows help a lot in projecting and promoting the discipline. Alhamra Art Gallery, located at a central place in the city and being offered without charges is a big credit to the Punjab Government who finances the Arts Council for all purposes.

Art Museum

A museum situated at subsidiary of Alhamra Arts Council; Cultural Complex, Qaddafi Stadium Branch is known as Alhamra Art Museum. It houses the collection of paintings, prints, sculptures and ceramics owned by the Lahore Arts Council. This Museum has an area of over 12000 sqft. with sufficient wall space for displaying 200 plus works. The provision of the Musuem has fulfilled a long standing and important demand of the artist. This is the only Musuem that houses a collection that stays on display permanently with works of old masters and living legends along with contemporary artists on display. A curator looks after the collection and other affairs pertaining to the Art Musuem.

Archives Centre

Archives are a major source of learning for any society by seeing whatever their elders/seniors have done in the past whether it relates to music industry, art industry, acting industry, drama industry, novel writing, drama script writing, plays writing, antique books writing, historical buildings, or some other works relating to the past which may serve as a secondary source of information for researchers. Alhamra archives section got operative about couple of months back. Archive section is a compilation of works done by notable personalities in past in the shape of Drama scripts, Press clippings, cassettes, Antique Gramophone, Audio Cd’s and VCR. Drama scripts include some of the famous dramas in the television history of Pakistan, while press clippings relate all the famous historical events that happened in past in the art industry. Audio cassettes are a wonderful addition to the archive section as it includes some live famous recordings in the voice of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, and some other famous unforgettable memories. A total of 4 PhD’s researchers have done their research in the field of art and culture along with prominent personalities involved in the promotion of art and culture activities through the collection available in archive section. Last but not the least archive section is a valuable addition in the facilities of Lahore Arts Council (Alhamra), this facility remains open in all working days for visitors.

Adabi Baithak

Adabi Baithak literally means intellectual meetings. Alhamra has set aside whole premise for writer, poets, thinkers etc as after the closure of the Pak Tea House a void had been created and the Alhamra Adabi Baithak is the perfect environment for literary discourses, discussions, poetry readings and all such literature based activities.

Puppet Theater

Alhamra Arts Council has a long tradition of arranging for children. One of them is the Puppet Theatre that has been presented for more than twenty-five years and has provided entertainment to children. Every Sunday morning children can see fairy and folk tales performing live on the stage. Regular workshops are conducted for those interested in learning this art form. This theatre has a seating capacity of 150.

Recording Studio

Alhamra Arts Council has taken an initiative in order to develop a recording studio which was funded by Government of Punjab, Information and Culture Department. The recording studio consists of latest musical instruments, Sitar, Tabla, Guitar, Violin along with a newly built sound proof recording room for recording songs of high quality with the help of all musical instruments. One of the major production of recording studio is Alhamra Unplugged Season 1 which was being launched in 2015 and on Aired in Feb 2016. Alhamra Unplugged season one Auditions were held in Alhamra Arts Council, Kinnaird College, University of Lahore and F.C College. More than 500 contestants participated and only 22 Artists were selected. Artists include Justin Girls, Grandson of Ustad Tafu, Pakistan Idol Contestant, Rahat Fateh Ali khan’s student, female vocalist of Pakistani movie, Naqsh Band, LUMS Olympiad winner.