lucknow with academies shut and all events cancelled in view of coronavirus spread cultural workshops have gone virtual to connect with budding artists and students to preserve the tradition and culture of the stateinstitutions like sangeet natak akademi and bhartendu natya academy have taken to online workshops which are proving to be a hit among artists from across the state as online enrollments are higher than usualsangeet natak akademi which is known for holding workshops plays and cultural events throughout the year is now hosting online workshops on kathak folk music professional makeup learning the art of expression and speech as well as music competition students not only from lucknow and adjoining areas but also from abroad are joining insecretary upsna tarun raj said earlier our kathak workshops would see only 100150 students walking in ever since we have started online workshops we get around 400 students from lucknow kanpur gorakhpur delhi and abroad as well two students from california have also enrolled despite time difference they connect for online workshops we are getting more applications daily but as we have limited teachers we have stopped taking more applicationsthe aim of virtual workshops is to stay engaged with young artists who want to make a mark in the field of arts classical music and dance currently we are holding workshops only but if we dont get the nod for cultural events we might plan ways to go online and conduct certain classes or events digitally the new session will begin in july he addedat bhartendu natya academy is also getting more applications than it used to get in prelockdown days the theatre training institute is also uploading old plays enacted by students and alumni of the academy on its youtube channelthe academy is also hosting a virtual event rang samagam to connect with indian artists and directors who have made a mark in the field of theatre actors like anil rastogi saurabh shukla and ravi kishan have shared their success storiesbna director rc gupta said we received 300 applications but could select only 100 due to shortage of staff and time teaching theatre through web platform is a tedious task but looking at current situation due to coronavirus we are slowly adapting to it we are also uploading old plays on our youtube channel to invite people to join in as theatre cannot be physically attended as of nowup cultural department is also uploading videos on its official youtube channel where one may listen to podcasts watch theatrical plays and documentaries of festivals and events hosted in up and music renditions by ustad ahmad jan khan thirakwa pt sheetal prasad mishra and ustaad rashid khan among others