NRI businessman donates Rs 1 cr to Kochi-Muziris Biennale

A leading NRI businessman today donated Rs one crore to the third edition of the Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) scheduled next year.
The financial support by Gulf-based Indian businessman M A Yusuff Ali for KMB 2016, beginning December 12, 2016, comes a day before Bakrid.
The second biennale also saw Yusuff Ali supporting the contemporary-art event with a donation of Rs 50 lakh.
LuLu Group Director M A Nishad, along with the company's senior officials, handed over the cheque to Kochi Biennale Foundation President Bose Krishnamachari at an event held at Ernakulam Press Club today.
Yusuff Ali, the Managing Director of Lulu Group of Companies, noted that KMB has been doing proud to India in the international arena.

"The Biennale is a vast canvas where art transcends boundaries with the participation of international artists. It is now a world-renowned contemporary art festival, thanks to the organizers," he said.

"Promoting such an event will help boost Kerala's cultural tourism. The public and the industrial world have a collective responsibility to support the event," he said.
Yusuff Ali had, during a visit to the 2014 Kochi-Muziris Biennale, announced his plan to offer Rs one crore to the third edition.
Speaking on LuLu Group's continued support to the Biennale, Bose Krishnamachari said, "Internationally known businessman Yusuff Ali is upholding the values of 'soft power' and his passionate support to sustain the Biennale as an event of India's cultural pride is remarkable.

"We, the Kochi Biennale foundation, an organisation focusing on 'serving people' through art and education, feel very thankful to have someone like him with us as a patron of art," he said.
Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2016 will be curated by Mumbai based artist Sudarshan Shetty.
A Mangalorean by birth, the 54-year-old artistic director, who was a participating artist in the inaugural edition, has begun his research work for the third edition of the Biennale.