Milapfest are delighted to announce the recipients of this year’s National Indian Arts Awards. The Jury have had a tough time deciding the winners from an extremely talented and deserving group of amazing arts professionals and young stars.
The awards will be conferred at a glittering ceremony at London’s Southbank Centre on Thursday 14th June. The ceremony is kindly supported by our media partner, Asian Voice, and our education partner, Liverpool Hope University, and will be presided over by Sir Nicholas Serota (Chair of Arts Council England), His Excellency Mr YK Sinha (High Commissioner of India) and Baron Gadhia of Northwood (Member of the House of Lords).
The recipient of this year’s Vishwa Kala Ratna (International Award), Dr Jayanthi Kumaresh, will take to the stage for a very special post-ceremony concert. This is open to the public and we encourage you to get your tickets now for what is set to be an electrifying display of music prowess.
We are also delighted to welcome Priyadarsini Govind, the recipient of our very first Vishwa Kala Ratna award in 2016 to this year’s ceremony. Due to scheduling conflicts, Priyadarsini Ji was not able to join us in 2016, but we are delighted she will be with us at this year’s ceremony to accept her award.
This year has also seen the induction of a brand new award, the Kala Ratna, which celebrates groundbreaking contribution to Indian Arts and Culture in a wide variety of capacities. The first ever recipient of this award is Pritpal Ajimal for his unique talent and legacy of innovative design work celebrating Indian arts.
The nominations were, as always, of an exceptionally high standard and we would like to encourage anyone who missed out this year to apply again in future. Next year, we will be celebrating the 5th anniversary of the National Indian Arts Awards. The value and importance of honouring the best talent in classical Indian arts, both nationally and internationally, is already firmly established and we look forward to celebrating this momentous anniversary.
We would like to extend our hearty congratulations to the winners this year. We hope that these awards continue to contribute towards creating a strong focus on the vital contribution these eminent arts professional are making in the field of Indian arts and education, and provide recognition and opportunities to expand and strengthen their work in the years to come.
The full list is as follows
Vishwa Kala Ratna (International Award): Dr Jayanthi Kumaresh
Also being conferred at this year’s ceremony is Vishwa Kala Ratna (2016): Priyadarsini Govind
Guru Ratna (Lifetime Achievement): Dharambir Singh Dhadyalla, MBE
Kala Ratna (Significant Contribution): Pritpal Ajimal
Sangeet Acharya Ratna (Distinguished Teacher in Music): Vamshikrishna Vishnudas, Ramachandra Rao Narsimha Prakash
Nritya Acharya Ratna (Distinguished Teacher in Dance): Anusha Subramanyam
Yuva Sangreet Ratna (Young Musician of the Year): Rekesh Chauhan
Yuva Nritya Ratna (Young Dancer of the Year): Dr Rani Natalie Raut (Odissi), Annie Simon (Bharatanatyam), Dilini Seneviratne (Kandyan)
Tarang Musician of the Year: Srutti Suresan
Samyo Musician of the Year: Laksan Sakthiruban
Sabrang Musician of the Year: Gurleen Kaur
Milapfest Ensembles Award for Excellence: Meerah Perinpanathan, Reshmi Sivatheesan, Askhita Madabushi, Anita Adiga, Harpreet Kaur, Lavan Ravindran
Milapfest International Travelling Fellowship in Dance: Elena Catalano (Odissi), Santosh Nair (Bharatanatyam)
Anita Ratnam receiving the Vishwa Kala Ratna award at the NIAA 2017
Samyo Musician of the Year winner Ashnaa Sasikaran and the Yuva Nritya Ranta winner Elena Catalano. Elena also received a Milapfest International Travelling Fellowship this year.
