Protest against KCP president

Bangalore: After artists in the city were up in arms last week against remarks `against modern art' by minister Ramachandra Gowda, it was time for Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath (KCP) president to face the music on Tuesday.
Artists staged a protest against the management of KCP, alleging discrepancies in the way the president and the secretary are functioning.CKP executive committee member Babu Eshwar Prasad, who led the protest, alleged the two were taking important decisions without keeping the other members informed. The artists further alleged that since the new management took over 15 months ago, there have been no seminars or workshops conducted at the College of Fine Arts. Neither has there been any move to involve practicing artists as guest faculty, they said. The artists also protested against what they said were high admission and tuition fees.
Another artist, K T Shivaprasad, said several unscientific alterations were being undertaken at galleries without approval of the executive committee. The artists also demanded implementation of cadre recruitment law at the institution.
CKP president T Prabhakar dismissed the allegations and said the accounts will be done after March 9, 2009, and the annual general body meeting will then be called. "Two of the artists are members of the EC and they can voice their grievances at the meeting," he said. Reiterating that there was total transparency in the management, Prabhakar said the changes to art galleries were being made on the lines of international galleries. Several other improvements to college infrastructure had been done in the past 15 months, he said.