France Honours Hyderabad Based Prshant Lahoti withTop Civilian Award
The Embassy of France in India is pleased to announce that The French government’s second highest civilian awardfor art - Chevalier dansl’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) is conferred on Mr. Prshant Lahoti, the managing trustee of Krishnakriti foundation and owner of Kalakriti art gallery, Hyderabad. The French government bestows the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in recognition of significant contributions to the arts, culture, literature, or the propagation of these fields.
Among the other earlier recipients of the honour from India, a few are Shahrukh Khan, AiswaryaRaiBachan, SivajiGanesan, M. Balamuralikrishna, RituBeri and Nandita Das.
The government of France honours and recognises the valued contributions of Mr Lahoti towards the warm and cordial cultural relations between India and France with the distinguished civilian honour of the Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters.
Prshant will be honoured with the recognition by the French Ambassador to India, his Excellency François Richier at a ceremony in Hyderabad during March 2013.
Prshant started Kalakriti art gallery in the year 2002, to promote Art & Culture in the Twin Cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. Over the past ten years since its inception, it has matured to be a professionally managed art gallery that promotes and supports Indian contemporary art. The gallery works with many senior as well as young artists from different parts of India. It has emerged as a gallery for the young, upcoming artists as much as for the recognized masters who are internationally famous for their work of art. The gallery since have presented over 250 exhibitions, ranging from distinguished artists including JogenChowdhury, K.G. Subramanyan, Shuvaprasanna, AnjuDodiyaamong others.
In the year 2004 Prshant with other trustees, established Krishnakriti foundation in memory of his late fatherMrKrishnachandra B. Lahoti. The foundation was set up with a noble intention of supporting the education ofart students from the revenue generated at the Krishnakriti festival of art and culture. Since inception, the foundation has supported more than 150 deserving student artists from various art institute’s in India.
Marching further ahead with the mission, during 2007-2008 the foundation introduced a fellowship in collaboration with the French Embassy in India named theKrishnakriti — French Embassy Fellowship, the first one of its kind in the country. The fellowship in partnership with the Embassy of France in India offers a year fellowship to two students to study fine-arts at the some of the best institutions in France.
Moving forward further in pursuits, in the year 2010, as part of the Bonjour India Festival, the French embassy in India collaborated with Krishnakriti festival in Hyderabad and the outcome was a vivid and vibrant cultural experience.
Prshant’sefforts towards the Indo-French cultural relationship were recognised earlier on many occasions. He was an invitee to the panel discussion on corporate global responsibility on education at Delhi when the French President Nickolas Sarkozy visited India. Other panellists at the discussion included distinguished personalities like Dr. Samir Barua, Director of IIM Ahmedabad, Mr. Richard Descoings, Director of Institute of Political Science, Paris,Dr. Vijay Kapur, Dean of International Affairs, Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi University,Mr. Narayana Murthy, Founder and Chief Mentor Infosys,Mr. Gilles Pelisson, Managing Director and CEO of ACCOR. He was also invited by the French government to Paris to participate in an art fair and to visit different cultural centres there in 2010.
For further information please contact:
Atul Malikram
9827092823