The State Institute for Development of Arts and Crafts (SIDAC), Bhubaneswar, has been accorded with the Centre of Excellence (CoE) status by the Government of India.
In fact, the SIDAC is the first such institute in the country in Government sector to impart non-technical training. The SIDAC established since 2004 is a Government of Odisha sponsored organisation.
It has been created to function as an autonomous agency for the development of handicrafts sector of the State.
The organisation is managed by the Department of Handloom, Textiles and Handicraft. The SIDAC is imparting skill training in handicrafts of the State having market potential.
In the process, the organisation has developed syllabus for the craft courses and standardised the same by implementing the training programmes for more than 10 years. On integration of the state of the art handicrafts and handloom museum “Kalabhoomi” the SIDAC has now turned out to be a favoured place for the students from across the country for research activities in the traditional skill as well as related subjects.
The organisation has successfully demonstrated its capacity for implementing skill development programme in different clusters and pockets funded by the Government agencies.On November 24, the final presentation for the status of “Centre of Excellence” was made by Secretary Handloom Textiles and Handicraft Department Subha Sarma.
While granting the CoE status, the MoSDE observed that an organisation of the nature and standing of SIDAC has an important role to play in training activity in the informal / non-traditional skilling sector.
Similarly, the SIDAC will play a role for the training, practice and preservation of rare and dying arts and crafts of the State as well as for wider proliferation of its activities and benefit to the skilling eco-system.
This will have positive spinoffs in the form of sharing of best practices with similar institutions in the country, as well as mobilisation of global best practices for preservation of rare art and crafts forms.