Balanand aims to represent and encourage the creativity in school children from all over the country by providing an opportunity to participate in a fun art competition based on a theme. This year's theme is 'Ahimsa’ in line with 150 years of celebrating Mahatma Gandhi. In collaboration with the Inner Wheel Club Association and Kalanand artists, Balanand patrons fund the workshops.
The Balanand contests were held in a 150 schools across India. View the gallery for more.
Balanand aims to represent and encourage the creativity in school children from all over the country by providing an opportunity to participate in a fun art competition based on a theme. This year's theme is 'Ahimsa’ in line with 150 years of celebrating Mahatma Gandhi. In collaboration with the Inner Wheel Club Association and Kalanand artists, Balanand patrons fund the workshops.
The Balanand contests were held in a 150 schools across India. View the gallery for more.
APPLY FOR KALANAND FELLOWSHIP
Applications for 2026-2027 will be opened shortly.
CATEGORIES:
HOW IT WORKS
TERMS & CONDITIONS
01 Painting
02 SCULPTURE
03 INSTALLATION
04 PHOTOGRAPHY
Any Indian citizen above the age of 18 (as on 20th November 2025) is eligible to apply.
This opportunity is reserved for artists pursuing art as a full-time career.
Participants must provide accurate information about themselves and their work. Any discrepancy leads to disqualification at any stage of the contest, without refund of the entry fee.
ELIGIBILITY
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Participants must fill in correct information in the form, along with their original work of art.
An entry is valid only once the entry fee of ₹2,000 is deposited.
Entries are approved after verification of the form; PDAF has the sole right to confirm or reject entries.
Entry fees are not refunded if the artwork is not selected.
PDAF may disqualify an entry at any stage if any discrepancy in information is observed.
PDAF may use images of approved artworks for promotional purposes.
Artists may make multiple entries in the same or different categories; each entry is treated separately, with its own fee.
For the exhibition, artists are responsible for the logistics and cost of transporting their artwork.
05 TEXTILE & TAPESTRY
06 DIGITAL MEDIA
07 PERFORMANCE
08 MIXED MEDIA
A fully transparent process, undertaken by an accomplished panel of artists and curators. Every entry is verified — including an image check for originality — before approval.
Approved artworks are anonymised before reaching the judges, each of whom scores independently on ten parameters out of a total of 100.
Awardees are selected purely by total score and informed by email. The selection of artworks and grants remains solely at the discretion of PDAF.
Jury & selection
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If a selected artwork is sold prior to the exhibition, the artist is disqualified.
Twenty percent (20%) of the sale price of any work sold during the exhibition is donated to the Prafulla Dahanukar Art Foundation.
All sales during the exhibition are facilitated by the Foundation, the sole point of contact for acquisitions and inquiries; artists are requested to refrain from direct sales.
Accommodation and travel are not covered for participating artists.
Artists must be present at the inauguration ceremony and on the last day of the exhibition.
If unable to attend the last day, artists must arrange a representative with Aadhaar ID for verification at pickup.
Only those who agree with these terms and conditions are requested to participate.
GRANTS
all india gold
5 grants
₹ 1,00,000 each
all india SILVER
3 grants
₹ 50,000 each
all india BRONZE
5 grants
₹ 20,000 each
all india MERIT