Pics: Prajwal Ukkuda 
Daijiworld Media Network—Mangalore (RS/CN) 

Mangalore, Jun 8:  Ten artists from the state were honoured with prizes in a programme arranged by the Karnataka Lalitha Kala Academy at Dr A V Rao Convention Hall at IMA House in the city on Sunday June 7.  

Manu P Baligar, director of the academy, presented the prizes to the artists. 

He said, “The state government has been supporting the art and has reserved funds amounting to Rs 162 crore for the academy. There are no such promotions by any other governments in this country. This state has 14 academies.” 

Baligar said that through the academy he is interested in promoting various programmes related to art.  

Dr J S Kande Rao, chairman of the academy, presided over the function. Speaking on the occasion, he said, “The artists in the state have got many problems compared to artists in other countries. But the academy has been trying to help the artists improve themselves through seminars and other such programmes. Such a 10-day programme will be conducted soon to train the students under experienced artists. It will help the students of the arts to acquire more knowledge in this field.”  

Shivananda Basavanthappa, Gururaj R Alagonda, Subrahmani J,  K G Pradeep, S Nataraj, Shafiq G Mashalkar, Prabhakar Mankal, Aruna Bhat, Muralidhar B M, and Sayyad Asif Ali received the prizes.  

Chaithanya Thallur, chief manager, State Bank of India, N S Paththar, principal, Mahalasa School of Arts, V N Mallikarjuna Swami, registrar of the academy, S M Jambakeswar, and K V Vasantha Kumar, member conveners of the academy, and Dr Akther Husain  were present.