CB BureauIn an effort to encourage art education in the country, JSW Foundation will undertake restoration of the Kanyashala building where the Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey (SNDT) Univesity is being run. The foundation has already taken the university’s consent and signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the authorities.
Kanyashala is a grade III heritage building and JSW Foundation will not only restore it but also redo its interiors. The restored building will house the university’s arts department including painting, music, dance and theatre. JSW will appoint conservation architects and contractors and proposes to spend around Rs 4-5 crore on the project over the next three years.
Sitting L to R: Prof Vasudha Kamat, vice vhancellor, SNDT Women’s University; Mrs Sangita Jindal, chairperson, JSW Foundation; and Dr S Kumudhavalli, registrar, SNDT Women’s University.
Post restoration, the building will be renamed as ‘Sangita Jindal Centre for Arts’. It may be noted here that Sangita Jindal chairs the JSW Foundation. JSW Foundation is the social development wing of $10 billion JSW Group, which plans and implements social development activities of group companies.
After conservation, the foundation will have a permanent seat in the advisory board constituted for the purpose of management of activities in the new conservation building, which will be headed by the vice chancellor of the SNDT Women’s University.
Earlier, JSW Foundation restored the interiors of Sir JJ College of Arts in Mumbai at a cost of about Rs 1.5 crore. Recently, the foundation won the UNESCO Asia Pacific Heritage Award for its work on the Chandramauleshwar Temple at Hampi in Karnataka.