Tirur: Akri Kada, a collective of artists, vows to add beautiful colour to the surroundings, bringing smiles on the faces of people. The organisation has around 350 members hailing from various places. The members of Akri Kada usually camps at schools and by the time they leave, the buildings would have turned into fabulous art canvases. 

Akri Kada was formed by Aditya and Anu, former students of fine arts during the time of Covid. The number of members gradually grew. Artists from across Kerala as well as outside the state soon became part of Akri Kada. They launched the Kerala Art campaign that aims to give training in various art forms that could also provide an income. They chose small schools, anganwadis and Kudumbasree units as their base for conducting these training sessions. 

19 camps have been conducted in Malappuram, Kozhikode, Thrissur, Pathanamthitta, Kollam, Palakkad and Wayanad districts. Forty members of Akri Kada camped at these places for two days to train people. Meanwhile, their last camp was at Tirur Puthupally Shastha ALP School. They returned only after filling the walls of the school building with colourful paintings. The ideas and themes from the textbooks were transformed into art on the classroom walls. 

“The students should recognise or recall their lessons from these art work,” says Sunder Raj Kollam who is the secretary of Akri Kada. However, there are certain guidelines to choose the place where the paintings are done. The financial and physical situation of the school and the number of students is some of them. The schools should submit an application in a specific format and a member who stays nearby will visit the spot. 

The conditions would be discussed in the group before arriving at the school for conducting the camp. There are members who spare two days in a month for this. They provide their service completely free of cost. The school should, however, provide paint, food and accommodation for the artists. But in most cases, the artists camp at the school itself. They have also painted the walls of an old age home in Kannadi, Palakkad. 

Work shops are often conducted for the members too. Training in more than 35 art forms are provided by Akri Kada. The office of Akri Kada – The Different Arts is at Parappanangadi. The president of this artists’ organisation is P Unnikrishnan. Sunder Raj Kollam and Rabith Parappanangadi are the secretaries of Akri Kada.