Dr Nanda Patil Sangeet Academy, Pragati Colony, Saptapur, Dharwad, Karnataka State

Achievements

This Dr Nanda Patil Sangeet Academy, established in 2016, with the then Dharwad’s Member of Parliament Prahlad Joshi’s inauguration (now he is the Minister for Mines and Parliament Affairs), aims at preserving and spreading a unique kind of fine (five) art culture with its ‘carry over values” for posterity. The objectives of the Academy are to alert and enrich the present generation and posterity with fine arts culture in MUSIC, DRAMA, PAINTING, DANCE and SCULPURE, besides LITERATURE. India has a rich cultural heritage and unique contribution to the world in the above fields. There is a kind of folklore atmosphere and anthropological ambiance in the place and visitors are increasing these days. More so encouragement is given to the school children.

MUSIC: The Academy, right now, conducts regular music classes for all kinds of aspirants. Music competitions are a regular feature of the academy. Now the academy has decided to hold such competitions at national level from 2020.

The Academy hosted Music Festival - 2017 at Bijapur, and Belgaum and Music Festival - 2018 at Gadag. This will take place in Bangalore in Jan 2019.

The Patil’s Vachana Music Award (a cash prize and a concert, with an endowment lecture) instituted at Karnataka Vidya Vardhaka Sangh (This is an ancient Institute of Arts, Culture and Social Thought as established by Jayachamaraj Odeyar of Mysore in 1885), Dharwad provides a vachana music puraskar to an outstanding young artist (below 40) every year. Minimum five performing artists in both vocal and instrumental, sometimes, a folk artist does performance for a day. At least two artists come from outside the state. They are from Maharashtra and West Bengal usually.

2014 award was given to Kumar Maradur of Kolkota, West Bengal; 2015 award to  Mrityunjaya Settar of Gadag; 2016 award to Dr Jayadevi Jangamasetti  of Kannada University, Hampi; 2017 award to Tejaswini Malagi, a practicing artist at Bangalore; 2018 award to Malashri Kanavi of Gulbarga; 2019 award to Dr Shakti Patil, a blind talented artist, Dharwad

DRAMA: The Academy holds its Annual Drama Festival in different towns and awards an outstanding playwright or drama personality every year. So far it held its drama festivals in Dharwad, Hubli, Belgaum and Bangalore. The Master Mallikarjun Patil is a well-known bilingual writer and playwright. The Kannada film Negiluyogi is based on his novel about farmers. The English text of it is made a text for University students.

Now the Academy has decided to hold the Drama Festival in the four zones of the country, namely in Bangalore, Bombay, Delhi and Kolkota. Talented theatre personalities will take part and distinguished personalities will guide the historical event.

SCULPTURE: The Academy respects the sculpture of various schools, and in many mediums, including the ones in cement. They are installed in the Academy’s sprawling garden.

The Academy has decided to hold a sculpture workshop for a week about the musicians of the country in March-April 2020. It will have the stone busts of various artists like Bharataratna Bhimasen Joshi, great Jnanapeet poet Bendre, Padmavibhusan Dr Gangubai Hangal, playwright Jnanapeet Awardee Girish Karnad and Adya rangachar (‘Sriranga’) and other important persons who have shaped the destiny of art and culture of Dharwad in the last two hundred years. Dharwad is the cultural hub of North Karnataka and it rivals the cultural regions of Pune, Nagpur, Mysore, Madhurai and Vijayawada in South India. The various sculpturs come from Hampi and Mysore.

PAINTING: Pratap Bahurupi is a great painter from the region. Bahurupi’s various paintings such as ‘J.J.School of Art, Bombay,” “National School of Drama, New Delhi,” “Bhatakhande Music University, Lucknow” and “Rabindranath Tagore’s Shantiniketan” are drawn so beautifully, so majestically. The Academy holds a splendid collection of hundreds of paintings, of all types, and in several mediums. Besides, it has a good collection of coins and currency notes, even the ones in gold and silver, both Indian and foreign; variety of antiques and specialties too. 

DOCUMENTATION: Dr Nanda Patil did her PhD in folklore. Now she is giving a shape in the form of notation to the fast disappearing folklore, specially songs of Kannada language. She is well-versed in Sanskrit, Marathi, Hindi and English. She even did a trip to the USA this year with a keen interest for preserving Indian art. As a musicologist she has authored several good books in this regard. A team of her students help and cooperate with her. She is generous in shaping the students and disciples in shaping their careers as well. The Academy has a good library with collections in fine arts, and such amenities that fecilitate artists of all kinds. The drama rehearsals and painting competitions take place there.

PUBLICATION: The Academy has its own publication for publishing the books, some of them well-known books by others. It has a nice distributing and appreciation system. Now it is bringing out a couple of books in translation too. In fact, some of the books, plays, even novels, are got translated and they are published in Nanded, Bombay and Hyderabad.

Note:  The Academy’s Drama and Music festivals are due to take place in the year 2020 in Dharwad. There will be a painting exhibition for three days.

visit www.drnandapatilacademy.com for more details about Academy