Courses Conducted By The Academy
The Academy of Fine Arts offers courses in a wide variety of subjects in the Indian performing arts. The subjects taught at the Acedemy and the corresponding tutors are as follows:

Courses Conducted, And The Corresponding Tutors
DANCE		CARNATIC MUSIC		HINDUSTANI MUSIC
Bharata Natyam	K. RajaKumar Sitaravamma Sandrasegaran Girish Kumar Panicker	Mridangam Veena Violin Flute Vocal	Prapancham Ravindran Dr. (Mrs) Y. Bhagavathi Jayalaxmi Subramaniam K. Sivaraman R. Thiagarajan R. Thiagarajan A. K. Karunakaran Leelavathy Gopalakrishnan Mrs. Mangalam Shankar	Vocal, Sitar Tabla Zathak	Susanta Chowdhury Ahmad Sarfraz Raghava Raj Bhatt
Kuchipudi	Sitaravamma Sandrasegaran

The Academy conducts both structured courses as well as programmes customized to meet the needs of individual students.

The structured courses are in two stages, the first leading to a Certificate of Merit and the second to a Diploma. Those enrolling for the Certificate and Diploma courses are required to adhere to a pre-set syllabus, which has been revised and effective from July 1st, 1996. The syllabus can be purchased from the Academy office on payment of $5. The students are advised to sit for the examinations at the end of each academic year, which is normally during mid June.

The Certificate course takes a minimum of five years to complete. Students who attain a high 'C' grade or above in the final examinations of the Certificate course are eligible to proceed to the Diploma course which takes a minimum of three years to complete. External examiners are appointed for all examinations from the fifth year onwards.

Students who achieve a high standard of performance in the eighth year examination may also be awarded the title of "Sangeetha Visharad" or "Natya Visharad".

The Academy also admits students who wish to pursue a course in music or dance but do not wish to join the formal programme. For these students, customized programmes are arranged with tutors.

Normally, students attend two hours of lessons each week but may also choose to attend one hour a week classes at their convenience. Students may attend Group classes (which have 4 to 8 students in the class) or Special classes (which have 1,2 or 3 students in the class) to suit their individual needs. Students unable to be present for their examinations because of illness or other special reasons, may be allowed to proceed with the next level of their course on the recommendation of the teacher and with the approval of the executive committee. This concession is given only for the first four years of the programme and the students will not be able to proceed to the fifth and subsequent years without successfully completing their examinations.

Tutors
The tutors employed by the Academy are required to have completed formal training at well-known performing arts institutions in India. They are required to have an excellent Academic record and have extensive experience with performing abilities.

Holidays
The Academy is closed during the month of December. Other Academy holidays are set out below.

Academy Hours
The Academy is open on all days of the week except Friday. The teaching hours at the Academy are from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. with a break from 12:00 noon to 4:00 p.m. on weekdays (Monday to Thursday) and 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. on weekends (Saturday and Sunday).

Schedule For Fee
Year	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	2 - Hour Class Per Week
Single Student Class	$150	$150	$150	$150	$150	$155	$155	$155
Double Students Class	$80	$80	$80	$80	$80	$85	$85	$85
Three Students Class	$65	$65	$65	$65	$65	$70	$70	$70
Group 4-8 Students Per Class	$55	$55	$55	$55	$55	$65	$65	$65
	1 - Hour Class Per Week
Single Students Class	$105	$105	$105	$105	$105	$110	$110	$110
Double Students Class	$105	$70	$70	$70	$70	$75	$75	$75
Three Students Class	$50	$50	$50	$50	$50	$55	$55	$55
Group 4-8 Students Per Class	$45	$45	$45	$45	$45	$50	$50	$50

Academy Regulations
1. Members of the Society, their spouse and children below 18 years are eligible to enroll at the Academy. Persons who have attained 18 years of age and above must be members to enroll at the Academy.
2. The minimum age of enrollment at the Academy is five. Dance students below eight years are required to join the preparatory class.
3. Students joining the Academy from another institution are required to attend an interview with a tutor of the Academy who will determine the year of admission.
4. Students following a structured course must receive a Pass grade in the final examinations before proceeding on the next year of study. To enroll for the Diploma course, students are required to have attained at least a high 'C' grade in the final year Certificate examinations. Examination for all grades are conducted by an Examination Committee whose responsibility is to supervise and act as moderators. All decisions taken by the Examination Committee are final.
5. Students attending group classes are required to have completed 70 hours of instruction to register for the annual examination. Special class students are required to have completed at least 35 hours of instruction to register for the annual examination.
6. In cases where withdrawal of a student results in a change of category, e.g. from a group class of 4 students to special class of 3 students, the Academy will make its best efforts for the remaining students to join another group class. In circumstances where this is not feasible, students are required to pay the fees due in accordance with the new category. Where the Academy is unable to arrange for the new grouping, the new fee structure will be effective three months after the change in category. However, where students are unwilling to join the new group proposed by the Academy, the new fee structure will be effective from the following month.
7. Students attending group classes may make only two changes to their time-table in any academic year as frequent changes affect the progress of the other members in the group.
8. Classes may be disrupted from time to time to hold rehearsals for external programmes by students. While these disruptions will be kept to a minimum, there will be no make-up of classes cancelled arising from these interruptions. However, the Academy will endeavor to arrange for such classes to be taken by a substitute tutor or senior students whenever and wherever possible.
9. Students who absent themselves from classes without advising the Academy for one month (after payment of fees) and for two weeks (without the payment of fees) are liable to be removed from the Student Register.
10. Students must be appropriately attired at all times. Students attending dance classes must be dressed suitably.
11. All fees are due before the end of the first week of each month with the exception of December which becomes due on the 20th of November. Students who do not pay their fees within 15 days of the due date will be required to pay an administrative fee of $5.
12. A registration fee of $100 is payable on admission to the Academy. A student discontinuing his/her course at the Academy is required to pay registration fees on re-admission. Registration fees are also payable by students who have been removed from the Student Register. However, if more than one member of the same family join the Academy to study in any discipline at one time the Registration fee to be paid will be $100/-.
13. Veena, Sitar, Mridangan and Tabla students are required to pay an annual maintenance fee of $25 at the beginning of each Academy year.
14. Students are required to pay the fees for the month of December, when the Academy is closed. Students who are registered for more than one subject are required to pay for only one subject, whichever is the highest.