Goan becomes first Asian to win prestigious Lion award – Times of India profiles Sandesh Naik
We were delighted to see the article below in The Times of India on the 9th July. As is very often the case there are one or two items which have been misinterpreted - for instance Sandesh was one out of 2 million City & Guilds students around the world who studied a wide range of subjects, not just restoration. There are definitely not 2 million restorers / conservators in the world, even if we wish there might be!
Sandesh and the other students from Goa are now working towards the Level 4 Diploma in Painting Conservation, and hope to qualify in 2018. The classes will start again in January 2018 in Goa, and in the meantime we are in regular touch with all the students as they continue to study and work on conservation of the local artistic heritage.
We are enormously proud of what the team in Goa have achieved so far, helped by the international volunteers who are so important to the Restorers without Frontiers project. It's really great and very exciting to see that our aim of restoring local heritage and training local conservators is becoming a reality, and the best part is that we can truly see that there is a legacy to leave behind in the form of a group of local people from Goa who can, and will continue to, make a difference.