The President of India will confer the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships (Akademi Ratna) and Awards (Akademi Puraskar) for the years 2024 and 2025 to 115 artists in an investiture ceremony scheduled for August 13, 2026, at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. The ceremony will be attended by Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister for Culture and Tourism; Shri Rao Inderjit Singh, Minister of State for Planning, Statistics, and Programme Implementation and Minister of State for Culture; Shri Vivek Aggarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Culture; and Dr. Sandhya Purecha, Chairman of Sangeet Natak Akademi.
The selected artists represent the entire nation across different states and union territories and cover the full spectrum of performing arts including music, dance, drama, folk & tribal arts, puppetry, and allied theatre art forms. The Akademi Fellowship carries a purse money of ₹3,00,000 (three lakh rupees) while the Akademi Award carries ₹1,00,000 (one lakh rupees), in addition to a Tamrapatra and Angavastram. These awards, conferred since 1952, recognize the highest standards of excellence and sustained individual contribution to Indian performing arts.
The list of awardees includes 7 Fellows for 2024-2025: Ramlal Bareth, A V Anand, Rita Ganguly, Puru Dadheech, Chittaranjan Jyotishi, Pasumarthi Rattaiah Sarma, and Sudharani Raghupathy. The Akademi Awards are distributed across five field categories: Music (12 recipients each for 2024 and 2025), Dance (12 each), Theatre (10 each), Folk and Tribal/Puppet/Mask Making/Instruments Making (13 each), and Overall and others (5 each). The awards recognize specific contributions within sub-categories such as Hindustani Vocal, Carnatic Instrumental, Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Direction, Acting, Folk Music from various states, and scholarship in performing arts.