Chitra Santhe, annual art festival, kicks off today

Bengaluru is all set to host the 16th edition of Chitra Santhe on Sunday.

The much-awaited annual art festival will feature over 2,500 artists from across the country who will sell and display their artworks.

The festival, hosted by the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath, will be held along Kumara Krupa Road. This year’s festival will commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and showcase the life and times of the Father of the Nation.

The entire venue will be themed on the Mahatma, using symbols that define him such as Charkha and his signature round eyeglasses.

Over four lakh people are expected to attend the event that will have 1,500 stalls from the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath campus to Sivananda Circle.

Apart from the display of paintings, miniature art models and sculptures, the festival will also feature live cultural performances and on-the-spot sketching and caricature drawing.

Three well-known artists — JMS Mani, Jesu Rawal and Neela Panch — will be conferred the ‘Chitrakala Sanmana’ awards for their overall contribution to visual arts.

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy will inaugurate the event.

Traffic will be banned along Kumara Krupa Road from the Windsor Manor junction to Sivananda Circle from 6 am until 9 pm.

Traffic curbs

The following traffic curbs will be in place for Chitra Santhe:

Vehicles plying from Maurya Circle and Anand Rao Circle towards Windsor Manor should move straight at Race View junction on the Race Course Road-Trilight Junction-Basaveshwara Circle-Old High Grounds junction-T Chowdiah Road-Windsor Manor route.

Vehicles plying from PG Halli towards Sivananda Circle should move towards Old High Grounds junction-LRDE junction-Basaveshwara Circle-Race Course Road.

Four-wheelers and two-wheelers in the Big Bazaar parking lot and two-wheelers at government quarters on Crescent Road; four-wheelers on Race Course Road from Trilight Junction to Maurya Circle on the eastern side; Sevadal School, Crescent Cross Road, and BDA parking lot; Railway Parallel Road, Crescent Road from Gururaja Kalyana Mantapa to Hotel Janardhan on the western side.