KOCHI: Former chief secretary V Venu has been appointed as the chairperson of the Kochi Biennale Foundation’s board of trustees.
Kochi-Muziris Biennale president Bose Krishnamachari, who is also a trustee of Kochi Biennale Foundation, said Venu will be “coming on board pro bono, on an honorary basis”.
The Kochi-Muziris Biennale, which is conducted by KBF, has won national and international acclaim as India’s premier mega-art event.
Venu has been associated with the Kochi-Muziris Biennale from the first edition, playing a key role in establishing the partnership between the Foundation and the state government. He was in close touch with the Foundation in subsequent editions as well.
Venu joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1990, and had served as director-general of the National Museum in New Delhi. The Biennale is expected to benefit from his rich experience from a variety of assignments in the national and state cultural and tourism sectors.
Notably, Venu served as secretary of the state’s cultural affairs ministry from 2007 2011, during which the International Theatre Festival of Kerala was established.
As joint secretary in the Union Ministry of Culture, Venu was in charge of several apex cultural institutions, libraries, archives, and museums.
Bose added that it was relevant to note Venu’s leadership initiatives as director of Kerala Tourism and subsequently as secretary of the state tourism department, especially through a policy-driven private-public partnership, the Kerala Travel Mart, the biggest international travel mart in India.