The Chamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts (CAVA), one of the prestigious institutes for fine arts in the country, has finally got its own campus.
The institute, which has produced many eminent names in the field of fine arts, was running in the CTI building on Sayyaji Rao Road all these years.
As the existing campus was not befitting for students owing to space constraints, the institute had been urging the government to provide an independent campus.
CAVA, the only premier fine arts institute in the State supported by the State government, is controlled by the Kannada and Culture Department.
Following pressure, the CAVA shifted its campus to Aloka, a royal hunting lodge located about 15 km from Mysuru and surrounded by 60 acres of forestland. Classes were functioning there for sometime before the Forest Department took control of the area. The classes were then shifted back to the old campus.
The institute, at last, succeeded in getting 4.4 acres of land on the premises of the Government of India Text Book Printing Press, popularly known as the German Press, in Siddharthnagar for constructing its own building.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday inaugurated the new CAVA building constructed at a cost of Rs. 5.73 crore. The construction for the first phase of the building was launched in 2012.
The second phase required Rs. 13 crore to construct four buildings for housing all departments.
Some activists here felt that the new building lacks artistic appeal and an institution that has earned accolades for having produced famous artistes and artworks should have had a classic architecture that matched the heritage and architectural beauty of Mysuru.
