Dr MN Nandakumara and Sivasakthi Sivanesan were honoured with National Indian Arts Awards 2015under the category Lifetime Achievement Award and Sangeet Acharya Ratna Award respectively in October 2015.
The award was presented by Indian High Commissioner to the UK, Ranjan Mathai at Nehru Centre in London. Currently, Dr MN Nandakumara is the Executive Director of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, London, and Sivasakthi Sivanesan, Resident Carnatic Music at the Bhavan. They were awarded for their contribution to Indian arts and music. National Indian Arts Awards 2015 were the first ever National Indian Arts Awards hosted by Indian arts development trust Milapfest.
Other recipients of the awards under different Category:
- Pushkala Gopal won Nritya Acharya Award
- Jasdeep Singh Degun won Tarang Musician of the Year
- Sanjuran Keerthikumar won Samyo Musician of the Year
- Yarline Thanabalasingham won Young Musician of the Year
- Parbati Chaudhury won Young Dancer of the Year
Dr MN Nandakumara                                             Â
M N Nandakumara holds a PhD in devotional literature from School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. He taught Sanskrit at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, London. He started working at the Bhavan in the year 1984. He became the Executive Director of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in the year 1996.
Sivasakthi Sivanesan
Sivasakthi Sivanesan teaches carnatic vocal and Vina at the Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, London. She herself is an outstanding performer as well.
National Indian Arts Awards
This (in the year 2015) was the first ever National Indian Arts Awards hosted by Indian arts development trust Milapfest. Milapfest established the awards in order to recognise the contribution of artists working in the field of Indian arts and to celebrate the hard work and passion of young artist. National Indian Arts Awards were supported by Arts Council England.