Shillong, Jun 21: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma announced plans to establish a Film City and a film institute in Shillong as well as a music institute in Tura, which will be part of efforts to strengthening the ecosystem for musicians, filmmakers.
“We want Meghalaya and Shillong to become recognised hubs for music, filmmaking and the entire creative economy,” Sangma said during the inaugural Hello Meghalaya Music Awards here yesterday.
Organised ahead of World Music Day, the awards celebrated excellence among artists, musicians, creators and music videos featured on the Hello Meghalaya platform between April 2025 and March 2026.
Sangma also spoke about the Chief Minister’s Grassroots Music Program (CM-MGMP), which now supports over 7,000 artists having created opportunities which did not exist before.
Hello Meghalaya, launched by the state government in 2024. Since its launch, the platform now hosts over 1,000 pieces of content with over 5 lakh app downloads. Supporting more than 150 filmmakers and over 230 creators, it continues to bring Khasi, Garo and Jaintia stories to a wider audience.
A key highlight of the event was the launch of the second edition of the Grant Disbursement Booklet documenting how government-supported film grants are enabling storytellers from Meghalaya to produce feature films, web series and short films.
The grant is based on four categories. Under Category A, six filmmakers receive financial assistance of up to Rs 35 lakh each for feature films, while 18 filmmakers under Category B receive grants of up to Rs 25 lakh each. Category C supports four web series with grants of Rs 20 lakh, while 19 emerging filmmakers under Category D receive grants of up to Rs 5 lakh each to produce short films.
The event witnessed 16 artists declared winners and having received awards under different categories including Folk, Pop, Hip-Hop/Rap, Gospel, Original Soundtrack, Independent Artist of the Year, Best Female Artist, Best Male Artist, Song of the Year and many more.
A major highlight of the event was Reble, who has gained recognition for her songs in the Bollywood film ‘Dhurandhar’, winning the inaugural ‘Icon of the Year’ Award, and ‘Eastern Brook’, a band composed of visually impaired musicians whose song, “Echoes of Unity” was awarded the Best Inspirational Song.
The evening featured performances by Kids Tarari Choir, Steve Jyrwa, Amachi Sangma, an interactive session with Reble, a performance by Khmih Creative Society and concluded with Bending Waves, one of the emerging bands supported under CM-MGMP.
