News updates for Events ↓

The Sunera Charity Dinner will be taking place on 31st May 2008, at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, Colombo. There will be the usual delectable 4 course dinner followed by world class entertainment. For the first time EVER, cello maestro Rohan de Saram and premiere pianist, Rohan De Silva come together to play music that one rarely has the privilege of enjoying! See you all there!

7th – 12th May
Performance of Last 2 Minutes (play)
Bishop’s College Auditorium, Colombo, Galle & Tissamaharama

28th May
Performance for UNHCR to mark World Refugee Day
BMICH

30th June – 22nd July
Samanalayaya district performances

August 8th & 9th
Samanalayaya Grand Finale
John De Silva Theatre, Colombo

9th September
Charity Dinner 2007
Cinnamon Grand Hotel, Colombo

October – November
Muthu Pabalu Drama Festival
TTOP regions

12th November
Sunera moved its office
39 Elibank Road, Colombo 05

7th & 9th December
Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka Concert for which Sunera will publish souvenir books
Ladies College Auditorium

Scene from “The Last Two Minutes” – The Wedding

Sunera’s award winning production “The Last Two Minutes” goes on the boards in Hambantota and Galle on May 26th and 27th respectively. Tickets are priced at Rs. 75, 50 and 10.

In Colombo, the play will be staged at the Bishop’s College Auditorium on May 29th and 30th. Tickets will be available at Sunera Foundation and at Bishop’s College from May 11. Tickets are priced at Rs. 500, 350, 200 and 50.

“The Last Two Minutes” is a brand new production only staged once in Italy. The cast includes participants from Sunera’s Tsunami Theatre Outreach Project (TTOP).

Maurice Paternott

UK Photographer Maurice Paternott visited a Sunera Workshop in November 2006, to lend his expertise to capture some images of our participants, in Nikawaratiya in the Kurunegala District. His photographs were displayed at the Sunera Photo Exhibition at the Annual Symphony Orchestra Concert this year; you can see them in our photo gallery.

With the Samanalayaya Drama Festival 2006 nearly over, there is still one last chance to see some of the best performances that Sunera has to offer.

On one special night, Sunera’s three Colombo workshops – plus the Kosgama workshop – will unite to present a series of four short dramatic performances.

The finale of the Samanalayaya Drama Festival 2006 will be presented on August 30 at 6.00pm at the John De Silva Theatre.

The programme for the evening’s performance consists of

Habala Bindila (The Broken Oar)
Deva Dasi (Maiden of God)
Thrithva Ranga (Three Dances)
Directed by Ramani Damayanthi

Paata Sihinayak (The Colour of Dreams)
Directed by Buddhi Palika

Rohan De Silva
Stefan Milenkovich
Ani Aznavoorian

The second annual Sunera Foundation Charity Dinner was a roaring success, raising over three and a half million rupees to support Sunera Foundation.

More than 430 guests were drawn to the Cinnamon Grand Hotel’s sumptuous Oak Room to witness the brilliant performance put on by our guest performers: Rohan De Silva; Stefan Milenkovich and Ani Aznavoorian.

The audience was blown away by the performance, an exciting selection of well-known and undiscovered gems from the classical music world.

Particular highlights included a blistering violin-cello duet and Rohan De Silva’s amazing accompaniment during La Campanella.

The evening also saw the premier screening of a new Sunera Foundation promotional film, made specifically for the event, and an exciting raffle with seven exciting prizes.

Work has already begun on planning 2007’s Charity Dinner. Early signs suggest that Sunera will be contrasting the elegance and sophistication of this year’s event by putting together something raucous and fun for next year’s.

Keep every date in your diary free, because you won’t want to miss it.

Following on from the success of the Paradise Road Art Exhibition, Sunera Foundation is thrilled to have been approached by a talented American artist to put on a further exhibition to support our programmes.

The new exhibition, by Las Vegas-based artist Dray, will be held in the upstair gallery space at the prestigious Bay Leaf Restaurant from June 6 until June 20, 2006.

All art on display as part of the exhibition will be for sale and all money raised will go towards supporting Sunera’s efforts to foster artistic vision among Sri Lanka’s differently abled young people.

It is a big honour to receive this kind of support from a recognised international artist and Sunera Foundation is very grateful to Dray for his help.

As well as Dray himself, Sunera would like to thank event sponsors the Bay Leaf Restaurant and Triad Aid for helping to put together this event.

Please come along to the Bay Leaf Restaurant, 79 Gregorys Road, Colombo 07 during the two weeks of the exhibition to show your support for Sunera Foundation.

To see some examples of Dray’s work ahead of the opening, please visit his website.

Audiences from across South Asia were amazed on March 28, when Sunera participants from our Colombo workshop performed at “Junction” the culmination of the “Beyond Borders” project.

“Beyond Borders” is an initiative by the British Council and seeks to create links between the UK, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. “Junction” took place as part of a two day festival featuring participants from across South Asia.

Sunera’s Colombo workshop performed “Hansa Geethaya”, first seen as part of last year’s Regional Performances. Again directed by our Assistant Creative Director Ramani Damayanthi, the combination of a poignant story, excellent acting and truly remarkable dance sequences kept audiences laughing and clapping for nearly an hour.

Sunera participants also got involved in headline act Bahtiya and Santhush’s performance, joining them onstage to dance along to their upbeat songs, inspiring many in the audience to join in.

This invitation to perform is only one of many in recent months as Sunera’s strengthens its reputation for turning out top quality productions. After blowing them away at both “Beyond Borders” and the CIMA Awards Dinner, and with three other performances scheduled for the near future, Sunera continues to work hard to spread our philosophy of hope to bigger and bigger audiences.

Sunera Foundation Chairperson Sunethra Bandaranaike was the latest guest of honour at the British Scholars Association on Tuesday March 14, 2006 – where she had been invited to give a talk on her work with Sunera Foundation.

Despite it being a Poya Day, the auditorium at the British Council was packed full of about 60 people, eager to learn more about our programmes. Ms Bandaranaike spoke for nearly an hour on why Sunera Foundation exists and how we work alongside the differently abled.

At the height of her speech, Ms Bandaranaike appealed directly to her audience to support Sunera’s work – either by providing funds or resources or, at the most essential level, by spreading our message that a differently-abled person has just as much right to a fulfilled life as anyone else.

Following her speech, Ms Bandaranaike was flooded with further questions about our work and offers for help both now and into the future.

‘Untitled’ by Druvinka

The Art Exhibition at Paradise Road Galleries in aid of Sunera Foundation has been declared a success following its closure on March 7, 2006.

The exhibit was originally scheduled to close on March 2, but was extended due to intense public interest in both the artworks and Sunera Foundation.

A sudden downpour of rain at the opening night gala did little to dampen the enthusiasm of prospective art buyers. Most of the pieces on display sold within two hours of the exhibition opening.

All proceeds went directly to Sunera.

Money raised will be put directly towards supporting our ongoing regular workshops right across the island.

Sunera would like to thank all those who bought a piece of art, the artists who contributed their time and talent and Paradise Road Galleries for completely covering the costs of the event.