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We are so pleased to celebrate the victory of Ajith Perera, a human rights activist who for many years, has been fighting for the equal rights and accessibility of persons living with disability in Sri Lanka. 

After fighting this matter in court, Mr. Perera has secured a decision from the Supreme Court stating that all public buildings in Sri Lanka should provide access and facilities for people with challenges regarding their mobility.

We take this opportunity to congratulate Ajith Perera on achieving this for persons living with disability and we take the liberty of humbly comending the Supreme Court for its decision.

Click here to view Sunethra Bandaranaike’s interview on this achievement.

We are pleased to inform you that Sunera is presenting two stunning performances on 28 and 29 October at the Bishops College Auditorium.

 Jehan Aloysius and Centrestage Productions has devised and directed “An Inspired Swan Lake”, which will consist  of cast members from Sunera workshops and Ranavirusevana.

Click here for Jehan’s perspectives and comments on the rehearsals!

 Swans in rehearsal

Nalinda Premaratne of Abhina Academy of Performing Arts has directed and devised “Human Touch”.

 Rehearsals in progress for Human Touch

 Both productions will be performed on both evenings, commencing at 7.30.

Tickets are now available at Bishops College Audtorium. 

These performances are made possible by a donation in the Memory of the late Anura Bandaranaike

Click here for information and comments on Groundviews on this upcoming event.

To celebrate 60 years in Sri Lanka, The British Council has collaborated with the Sunera Foundation to bring to Colombo a world class jazz performance.

UK Jazz guitarist, Martin Taylor will be live in concert with vocalist, Alison Burns, on the 22nd of February, at 7.00pm at the British Council Garden.

Tickets are one sale at the British Council and the Colombo Hilton!

For more information and pictures about Martin and Alison, click on this link

The 6 finalists from the Samanalayaya 2008 District performances were presented at the John De Silva theatre on the 17th and 18th of December 2008.  The audiences, which braved the wet weather to attend performances on both days, were greatly appreciative of all the performances.

Here’s what some of our more “recognizeable” audience members had to say about the performances.

Punyakante Wijenaike (Writer)

“I could hardly believe that these people had written and producted these plays, doing their own choreography and training the actors and actresses to nplay their parts to naturally.  Also, the messages the plays brought to the audiences were to powerful and meaningful”.

Kaushalya Fernando (Theatre Personality) - “The performances were presented at a very professional level and the manner in which the directors have harnessed the talents of the disabled participants is very good.  It was great to see disabled children as part of such a professional production.”

V. Kamalawathy (Disability Rights facilitator and activist) - “Had I not known of the exact nature of Sunera’ work, I would have thought that Sunera offers a residential facility to its’ participants - the performances were of that level of professionalism.  Sunera carries out it’s work and workshops in such a thorough manner and the result was there for all to see at the performances last night.”

Here are a few moments…

Sunera’s Perahera performance

Well, our troup is back from New Delhi where they performed at SAMBHAV 2008.  The verdict?…….The performance was a resounding success!  After all that hard work, our team enjoyed a few days of taking in the sights, sounds and not to mention shops in Delhi.  Well done to them!

 Here’s a copy of the press release which was published in all the major English, Sinhala and Tamil Newspapers upon our return -

Sunera performs in New Delhi 

Sunera Foundation was honoured to be invited to perform at a cultural programme entitled “Sambhav 2008” in New Delhi on the 9^th of November 2008. 

Sambhav was a dance and music show, organized by the Alpana Society, a Delhi based organization which, like Sunera, promotes the performing arts amongst those living with disability.  Whilst Sunera constituted the Sri Lankan delegation to this event, teams also attended from India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.

Sunera’s performance showcased aspects of Kandyan and Indo – Sri Lankan dance (typical of the tea plantation region), with a few acrobatic moves thrown in for added variety.  Paying attention to detail, the costumes and props were colourful and ornate and remained true to these dance forms.

Alpana Nayak, organizer of SAMBHAV 2008 stated “Sunera’s performance during SAMBHAV 2008 was superb.  The music, choreography and costumes were ideally suited to an international audience…”

Sunera’s Chairperson, Sunethra Bandaranaike was invited to address the conference on Sunera’s positive experiences and challenges in working in the performing arts.  IN the light of the fact that delegates from other countries were invited to do the same, SAMBHAV proved to be a valuable opportunity for organizations doing similar work in this region to build networks and share experiences.

It was the first time that the members of this cast had travelled abroad.  There is no doubt that this trip gave them a wealth of happy memories, and more importantly, an added sense of self confidence.

Kishani with Placido Domingo 

World famous Opera Concert Singer, Kishani Jayasinghe, will be singing for Sunera on the 9th of January 2009, at the Lionel Wendt.  The concert starts at 7.00pm and will contain classical arias and contemporary favourites as well!  Tickets will be sold at the Lionel Wendt starting first week of December 2008. 

Kishani will be accompanied by Soundarie David on the piano and Cellist, Dushy Perera will be playing two solo items.

Kishani is affiliated with the Royal Opera House (London) and recently enjoyed an Opera master class with none other than Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.  She also sang at Prince Charles’ 60 birthday celebrations at Buckingham Palace on 13th November 2008.   

Get tickets while you can!

Media Release - April 9 2007 - Promoting the Human Rights of disabled persons in the Plantation Sector and Facilitating Peace Building

Annual Christmas Concerts by the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka

Sunera Foundation launches an Awareness Campaign with Hutchison Telecommunications