LHASA, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Folk arts are booming in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region as the number of county-level folk art groups rose by half over the past five years due to government support.

Currently, the region has 74 county-level folk art troupes, compared with 51 in 2012, the region's cultural authorities said Monday.

The region has 140-plus Tibetan drama bands and nearly 2,500 rural amateur teams, with a total of about 40,000 amateur actors and actresses.

The regional government has supported local folk arts development with policy, free training and investment. County-level folk art troupes who organize non-commercial shows receive a government subsidy of up to 300,000 yuan (47,300 U.S. dollars) each year.

This year, Tibet will unveil new methods to improve the operation of folk art troupes and organize tours of excellent performances as well as a regional folk song competitions, said a senior official with the Tibet regional culture department.

By the end of last year, 87 towns in the region had been named "hometowns of folk arts" at regional and national levels.