PRINCIPAL'S MESSAGE

Given the speed with which technology is affecting the visual environment, its practices, processes and presentation, and the consequent desire for instant success and gratification, art institutions have to adapt and evolve to keep in step. The responsibilities and challenges are many and diverse. The institutions have to create a climate and the ground for exploration and innovation for enabling and encouraging a variety of creative expressions that embrace the traditional and the contemporary and make the most of technological possibilities in this age of digitization. 

The Government College of Art, Chandigarh has an inspiring lineage of excellence spanning over 132 years. Born as the Mayo School of Art in Lahore in 1856, after Partition the institution relocated to Simla in 1951 before moving to Chandigarh in 1962. This cradle of budding talent, in the vicinity of the Chandigarh Museum of Art and the Corbusier Museum, abuts the sprawling expanse  of Leisure Valley and provides an  ideal and idyllic environment for creative pursuits. The building designed by the eminent French architect, Le Corbusier, is well endowed with large, lighted studio spaces. The College has hosted a number of Nationally and Internationally known luminaries.

Chandigarh is the new destination for the IT industry and related enterprises. Rapidly growing with an enviable standard of living, Chandigarh is fast emerging as a hub for cultural industries and activities aided by supportive infrastructural development. Here the allied disciplines of art, design, architecture, performing arts, advertising, fashion and multimedia are bound to converge, overlap and interact. Under the aegis of the UT Administration efforts are on to make the city an even more alluring destination for a cultural experience.

The Government College of Art, Chandigarh is proud of its role in this exciting process and committed to realising its full potential  as a hub of creative innovation and excellence.

Archana Shastri
Principal