Executive Committee
Committee Members
Keerthi Welisarage
Chairman
Dr. Sunil Wijesiriwardena
Executive Committee Member
Dr. Sasanka Perera
Executive Committee Member
Ruwanthie de Chickera
Executive Committee Member
Playwright & Theatre Director
Dr. S. Maunaguru
Executive Committee Member
Keerthi Welisarage
Chairman
2025.01.16
Mr. Keerthi Welisarage has been appointed as the Chairman of the Arts Council of Sri Lanka by Hon. Minister Dr. Hiniduma Sunil Senevi.
Keerthi Welisarage; Eleven collections of short stories, ten novels, two works on youth literature, three works on literary criticism. He is the winner of Upali Newspaper Award 1995” Independent Literary Award 1996, two Godage Literary Awards 2000, 2008, three State Literary Award 2000, 2008, 2016, Swarna Pusthaka Award 2012 and Swarna Padma Award 2004. Keerthi Welisarage is a graduate of the University of Colombo and also holds a Master of Education degree. In addition to his literary activities, he is also a social activist.
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Mr. Keerthi Welisarage has been appointed as the Chairman of the Arts Council of Sri Lanka by Hon. Minister Dr. Hiniduma Sunil Senevi.
Keerthi Welisarage; Eleven collections of short stories, ten novels, two works on youth literature, three works on literary criticism. He is the winner of Upali Newspaper Award 1995” Independent Literary Award 1996, two Godage Literary Awards 2000, 2008, three State Literary Award 2000, 2008, 2016, Swarna Pusthaka Award 2012 and Swarna Padma Award 2004. Keerthi Welisarage is a graduate of the University of Colombo and also holds a Master of Education degree. In addition to his literary activities, he is also a social activist.
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Dr. Sunil Wijesiriwardena
Executive Committee Member
2025.01.16
Dr. Sunil Wijesiriwardena has been appointed as an executive committee member of Arts Council of Sri Lanka by Dr. Hiniduma Sunil Senevi Hon. Minister of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs.
He is a longstanding civic leader in Sri Lanka committed to the cause of Peace, Democracy and Social Harmony , while being a researcher, teacher, trainer and writer with focus areas pertaining to cultural-studies and transformative education (cultural fluency, conflict transformation, peace building , eco-spiritual politics and engaged religions etc).
Sunil was the Founder – Director of the first Independent Cultural Institute - Vibhavi Centre for Alternative Culture (1991–2001), devoted to promote Cultural Rights and a Cultural Transformation program in Sri Lanka.
As a playwright, a poet, a literary translator, a literary editor and a critic he has been making a notable contribution to fields of Sinhala Literature, Theatre and Cinema.
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Dr. Sunil Wijesiriwardena has been appointed as an executive committee member of Arts Council of Sri Lanka by Dr. Hiniduma Sunil Senevi Hon. Minister of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs.
He is a longstanding civic leader in Sri Lanka committed to the cause of Peace, Democracy and Social Harmony , while being a researcher, teacher, trainer and writer with focus areas pertaining to cultural-studies and transformative education (cultural fluency, conflict transformation, peace building , eco-spiritual politics and engaged religions etc).
Sunil was the Founder – Director of the first Independent Cultural Institute - Vibhavi Centre for Alternative Culture (1991–2001), devoted to promote Cultural Rights and a Cultural Transformation program in Sri Lanka.
As a playwright, a poet, a literary translator, a literary editor and a critic he has been making a notable contribution to fields of Sinhala Literature, Theatre and Cinema.
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Dr. Sasanka Perera
Executive Committee Member
2025.01.16
Dr. Sasanka Perera has been appointed as an executive committee member of the Arts Council of Sri Lanka by Hon. Minister Dr. Hiniduma Sunil Senevi.
Sasanka Perera is Chairman of the Colombo Institute for Human Sciences (www.colomboinstitute.lk). He taught sociology at University of Colombo from 1993 to 2011 and at South Asian University from 2011 to 2024. He was Head of the Department of Sociology at University of Colombo from 2009 to 2011 and the Founding Professor Sociology and the Founding Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at South Asian University from 2011– 2018 and again from 2021-2022. He was also the University’s Vice President from 2016 to 2019.
His publications in English include Fear of the Visual? Photography, Anthropology and the Anxieties of Seeing (2020); Warzone Tourism in Sri Lanka: Tales from Darker Places in Paradise (2016); and Violence and The Burden of Memory: Remembrance and Erasure in Sinhala Consciousness (2015). He has co-written Against the Nation: Thinking Like South Asians (2019). He has co-edited Culture and Politics in South Asia: Performative Communication (2018); Sociology and Social Anthropology in South Asia: Histories and Practices (2018); Intersections of Contemporary Art, Anthropology and Art History in South Asia: Decoding Visual Worlds (2019) and Humour and the Performance of Power in South Asia: Anxiety, Laughter and Politics in Unstable Times (2022).
In addition, he has also translated into Sinhala Jostein Gaarder’s novel, Vita Brevis: A Letter to St Augustine (2019), Hisashi Inoue’s play, Face of Jizo (2016) and has co-translated a collection of 150 poems by the 13th century Persian poet, Jalal Ad-din Muhammed Rumi to Sinhala as තුටින් පිරී ගිය එක් මොහොතක්: ජලාල් අද්-දින් මුහම්මද් රූමිගේ තෝරා ගත් කවි (2022, ‘A Moment Filled with Happiness: Selected Works of Jalal Ad-din Muhammed Rumi’), which won the Sri Lanka State Award for the Best Translation of Poetry in 2023. His Translation of Lucas Hnath’s play, A Doll’s House, Part 2 won the Sri Lanka State Award for the Best Translation of a Play in 2022. He writes poetry and engages in photography in his spare time. His collection of poetry in Sinhala, සොයමින් අදිසි මොහොතක් (‘In Search of an Invisible Moment’) was published in 2024.
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Dr. Sasanka Perera has been appointed as an executive committee member of the Arts Council of Sri Lanka by Hon. Minister Dr. Hiniduma Sunil Senevi.
Sasanka Perera is Chairman of the Colombo Institute for Human Sciences (www.colomboinstitute.lk). He taught sociology at University of Colombo from 1993 to 2011 and at South Asian University from 2011 to 2024. He was Head of the Department of Sociology at University of Colombo from 2009 to 2011 and the Founding Professor Sociology and the Founding Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at South Asian University from 2011– 2018 and again from 2021-2022. He was also the University’s Vice President from 2016 to 2019.
His publications in English include Fear of the Visual? Photography, Anthropology and the Anxieties of Seeing (2020); Warzone Tourism in Sri Lanka: Tales from Darker Places in Paradise (2016); and Violence and The Burden of Memory: Remembrance and Erasure in Sinhala Consciousness (2015). He has co-written Against the Nation: Thinking Like South Asians (2019). He has co-edited Culture and Politics in South Asia: Performative Communication (2018); Sociology and Social Anthropology in South Asia: Histories and Practices (2018); Intersections of Contemporary Art, Anthropology and Art History in South Asia: Decoding Visual Worlds (2019) and Humour and the Performance of Power in South Asia: Anxiety, Laughter and Politics in Unstable Times (2022).
In addition, he has also translated into Sinhala Jostein Gaarder’s novel, Vita Brevis: A Letter to St Augustine (2019), Hisashi Inoue’s play, Face of Jizo (2016) and has co-translated a collection of 150 poems by the 13th century Persian poet, Jalal Ad-din Muhammed Rumi to Sinhala as තුටින් පිරී ගිය එක් මොහොතක්: ජලාල් අද්-දින් මුහම්මද් රූමිගේ තෝරා ගත් කවි (2022, ‘A Moment Filled with Happiness: Selected Works of Jalal Ad-din Muhammed Rumi’), which won the Sri Lanka State Award for the Best Translation of Poetry in 2023. His Translation of Lucas Hnath’s play, A Doll’s House, Part 2 won the Sri Lanka State Award for the Best Translation of a Play in 2022. He writes poetry and engages in photography in his spare time. His collection of poetry in Sinhala, සොයමින් අදිසි මොහොතක් (‘In Search of an Invisible Moment’) was published in 2024.
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Ruwanthie de Chickera
Executive Committee Member
Playwright & Theatre Director
2025.01.16
Mrs. Ruwanthie de Chickera has been appointed as an executive committee member of the Arts Council of Sri Lanka by Hon. Minister Dr. Hiniduma Sunil Senevi.
Ruwanthie de Chickera is a playwright, screenwriter, theatre director, actor trainer and cultural activist.
She has written/directed over 35 original plays and two screen plays. Her areas of interest lie in matters of social and political justice and accountability, intergenerational learning and the practice, politics and philosophy of ‘devising’ – a theatre approach of collective creativity and leadership which she believes challenges existing structures of authorship and power.
Ruwanthie is artistic director of Stages Theatre Group, set up in the year 2000 to produce socially and politically conscious original Sri Lankan Theatre. Her award-winning film “Machan” (2008) has been screened in over 50 countries and won several local and international awards including Best Film in the Venice Film festival. In 2024 she collaborated with Uberto Pasolini, on the script of the film The Return, which stars Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche.
In 2018, Ruwanthie was part of a citizens’ initiative which was mandated to draft a National Cultural Policy for Sri Lanka. She is an Eisenhower Fellow, and currently serves on the Freedom of Expression Sub Committee of the Human Rights Commisison of Sri Lanka.
More about Ruwanthie de Chickera (Wikipedia)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruwanthie_de_Chickera
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Mrs. Ruwanthie de Chickera has been appointed as an executive committee member of the Arts Council of Sri Lanka by Hon. Minister Dr. Hiniduma Sunil Senevi.
Ruwanthie de Chickera is a playwright, screenwriter, theatre director, actor trainer and cultural activist.
She has written/directed over 35 original plays and two screen plays. Her areas of interest lie in matters of social and political justice and accountability, intergenerational learning and the practice, politics and philosophy of ‘devising’ – a theatre approach of collective creativity and leadership which she believes challenges existing structures of authorship and power.
Ruwanthie is artistic director of Stages Theatre Group, set up in the year 2000 to produce socially and politically conscious original Sri Lankan Theatre. Her award-winning film “Machan” (2008) has been screened in over 50 countries and won several local and international awards including Best Film in the Venice Film festival. In 2024 she collaborated with Uberto Pasolini, on the script of the film The Return, which stars Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche.
In 2018, Ruwanthie was part of a citizens’ initiative which was mandated to draft a National Cultural Policy for Sri Lanka. She is an Eisenhower Fellow, and currently serves on the Freedom of Expression Sub Committee of the Human Rights Commisison of Sri Lanka.
More about Ruwanthie de Chickera (Wikipedia)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruwanthie_de_Chickera
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Dr. S. Maunaguru
Executive Committee Member
Dr. S. Maunaguru has been appointed as an executive member of Arts Council of Sri Lanka by Dr. Hiniduma Sunil Senevi Hon. Minister of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs.
More about Dr. S. Maunaguru (Tamil Wiki)
https://tamil.wiki/wiki/Maunaguru
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More about Dr. S. Maunaguru (Tamil Wiki)
https://tamil.wiki/wiki/Maunaguru
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