Kalakshetra Foundation, formerly simply Kalakshetra, is an arts and cultural academy dedicated to the preservation of traditional values in Indian art and crafts, especially in the field of Bharatanatyam dance and Gandharvaveda music. Based in Chennai, India, the academy was founded in January 1936 by Rukmini Devi Arundale and her husband George Arundale. Under Arundale's guidance, the institution achieved national and international recognition for its unique style and perfectionism. In 1962, Kalakshetra moved to a new campus in Besant Nagar, Chennai, occupying 40 hectares of land.
Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi was an Indian Carnatic singer from Madurai, Tamil Nadu. She was the first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour. She is the first Indian musician to receive the Ramon Magsaysay award in 1974 with the citation reading "Exacting purists acknowledge Srimati M. S. Subbulakshmi as the leading exponent of classical and semi-classical songs in the carnatic tradition of South India. She was the First Indian who performed in United Nations General Assembly in 1966."
Rukmini Devi Arundale was an Indian theosophist, dancer and choreographer of the Indian classical dance form of Bharatanatyam, and an activist for animal welfare.
The culture of Chennai, popularly called the "Gateway to the South India", is distinct from that of any other Indian city. Being a cosmopolitan hub, the city's culture reflects its diverse population that has resulted in a unique blend. Though a modern metropolis, Chennai continues to be traditional and conventional in certain ways. Traditional music, dance and all other art forms of Tamil Nadu are very popular in the city. One can find a peculiar cultural blend in city, from traditional foods to fast foods, from ancient temple architecture to modern high-rises, and from classical music and dance to the growing nightlife.
DakshinaChitra is a living-history museum in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, dedicated to South Indian heritage and culture. It is located 25 kilometres (16 mi) to the south of Chennai. Opened to the public on 14 December 1996, the museum was founded and is being managed by the Madras Craft Foundation (MCF). The MCF was established in 1984. Deborah Thiagarajan, an Indian art historian of American origin, governs the museum. The museum is built on 10 acres (4.0 ha) of land taken on a 33-year lease from the Government of Tamil Nadu. Located at Muttukadu, on the East Coast Road connecting Chennai and Pondicherry, the site overlooks Bay of Bengal.
Amala Akkineni is an Indian actress, Bharatanatyam dancer, and animal welfare activist. She has predominantly worked in Tamil films, in addition to Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, and Kannada-language films. She was a leading actress in the Tamil film industry in the late 1980s and has appeared in many blockbusters in Tamil and other languages. She has won two Filmfare Awards South, namely Best Actress – Malayalam for the 1991 film Ulladakkam and Best Supporting Actress – Telugu for the 2012 film Life Is Beautiful.
Lalita Lajmi is an Indian painter. She is a self-taught artist born into a family involved in the arts, and was very fond of classical dance even as a child. She is the sister of Hindi film director, producer, and actor Guru Dutt. In 1994, she was invited to the Guru Dutt Film Festival, organised by Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the Indian High Commissioner at Nehru Centre, London. Her work is also influenced by Indian films such as those made by her brother, Satyajit Ray and Raj Kapoor.
Indrani Rahman was an Indian classical dancer of Bharata Natyam, Kuchipudi, Kathakali and Odissi, which she popularised in the west, and later settled in New York in 1976.
Aruna Sairam is an Indian classical vocalist and carnatic music singer. She is a recipient of the Padma Shri award from the Government of India and has been elected as Vice Chairman of the Sangeet Natak Academy by the Government of India. In 2011, Aruna was the first Karnatic musician to perform at the BBC proms in London. She is also the first Carnatic musician to perform in Oud Festival of Israel (Jerusalem).
Cholamandal Artists' Village is an artists' commune in Chennai, India. Established in 1966, it is the largest artists' commune in India. The community is located in the southern coastal neighborhood of Injambakkam. Its artists are credited for the Madras Movement of Art (1950s–1980s), which brought modernism to art in South India. Their work is widely recognized as some of the best art produced in postwar India and is shown regularly in galleries across the country. Several Cholamandal artists have also shown in Europe, the United States and South America.
Alarmel Valli is a leading Indian classical dancer and choreographer and the foremost exponent of the Pandanallur style, in the Indian classical dance form, Bharatanatyam. She is widely acclaimed for her ability to turn a traditional grammar into a deeply internalized, personal dance poetry.
Smitha Madhav is a Carnatic Classical Singer and Bharatanatyam Dancer. Carnatic music is a system of music commonly associated with the southern part of India and one of the two main classifications of Indian Classical Music.
V. Anamika is a Contemporary Artist born in Neelankarai, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, a student of S. Dhanapal, an eminent artist of India. She received her master's degree in Fine Arts in 1999 from Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai. She undertook a course on Care of museum objects at Government Museum in 2005. In 2006, she went to Scotland as a visiting artist scholar to learn Japanese wood-block printing at Edinburgh printmaker’s studio.
Sunitha Sarathy is an Indian vocalist and performer in both Indian contemporary and Western classical music genres. She is also a gospel singer who performs in various church choirs. After having won the "Virgin Voice Choice" contest – a joint initiative of Channel V and Virgin Records in the year 2000, Sarathy debuted into film playback in the year 2002.
Srimati Priyadarshini Lal (1959-2019) was an Indian artist, poet, writer, art critic, art authenticator and curator. She held over twenty exhibitions of her work internationally.
Government Museum, Bangalore, established in 1865 by the Mysore State with the guidance of Surgeon Edward Balfour who founded the museum in Madras and supported by the Chief Commissioner of Mysore, L.B. Bowring, is one of the oldest museums in India and the second oldest museum in South India. It is now an archaeological museum and has a rare collection of archaeological and geological artifacts including old jewellery, sculpture, coins and inscriptions. The museum is also home to the Halmidi inscription, the earliest Kannada inscription.
Siramdasu Venkata Rama Rao is a British painter of Indian descent, known for his cubist paintings. Holder of Commonwealth Fellowship of 1962, he was honored by the Government of India, in 2001, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri.
Sukanya Rahman is a classical Indian dancer, visual artist, and writer. Her book Dancing in the family, a memoir of three women has received several acclaims. Her painting and collage works are widely exhibited in India and abroad. Her works have been exhibited at the William Benton Museum of Art in Storr’s CT, The Arts Complex Museum in Duxbury, MA and The Fowler Museum, Los Angeles. She was featured in the book Voyages of Body and Soul: Selected Female Icons of India and Beyond.
Renuka Kesaramadu is a contemporary painter and sculptor from India. She is best known internationally through her collaborative art exhibitions and participations in workshops in Europe. She has also curated a few international art symposia and exhibitions in India.
Devi Prasad Roy Choudhury MBE was an Indian sculptor, painter and educator. He is well known for his monumental bronze sculptures, especially the Triumph of Labour and the Martyrs' Memorial, and is rated by many as one among the major artists of Indian modern art. He worked in a broad spectrum of mediums including watercolors, expressionist landscapes and commissioned portraits. Large scale sculptures were his particular strength and he made social realism the cornerstone of his art. In addition to painting and sculpting, he also wrestled, played the flute, engaged in hunting and wrote short stories in his spare time.
