The College of Fine Arts may have better days ahead if the plans of A.S. Sajith, who took charge as Principal recently, attain fruition. Top on his agenda is restarting construction of the gallery complex.
“I had a discussion with the Town Planning Department on retendering the work. The contractors’ strike is an issue now. The complex will have a digital library, archives, and exhibition spaces. A management system to archive each department’s work needs to be implemented. We have already started e-cataloguing our library, which has a very good collection,” he says.
Another plan is to start the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) course in painting. Though a government order approving the course came out in 2011, there was no follow-up action.
A quality improvement programme for teachers, through periodic training activities, is also on the anvil.
One of Mr. Sajith’s immediate plans is to start a café inside the campus, to provide a platform for artists, writers, and others in the creative field to get together and interact.
“The public does not have an idea of the courses here. So, the best of students, even if they are talented in arts, are forced to choose professional courses. But we do have a lot more applicants than the total number of 43 seats on offer across all disciplines,” says Mr. Sajith.
