Since its inception in 1982, ICES has been unique in its integrated approach, which has viewed aesthetic engagement as an integral part of its research, advocacy and policy work. Throughout its 25 years, ICES has worked to promote arts and culture generally, as well as specifically in terms of promoting social transformation.  This work has included the production of documentaries, the publication of literary works, and the organisation of film festivals, art exhibitions, writing workshops, and dance and musical performances and workshops. As with its dialogue fora, ICES has provided a free and open space for bold and innovative artistic expression spanning all forms – dance, music, theatre, photography, visual arts, film and mass media – often in collaboration with partner organisations working in the arts.

The advent of ICES’s 25th year provides an opportunity for ICES to both revive and expand its work in arts, culture and media.  As part of the 25th anniversary celebrations, ICES will launch its new Arts, Culture and Media Programme.  Throughout the year, the Programme will launch an expanded series of projects and events co-ordinated to support ICES’s five thematic programme areas.

ICES’s prior work in this area has included: the production of a number of pioneering documentary film series on Sri Lanka’s minority communities (1986), language rights (1988), and armed conflict (1995) which were directed by some of Sri Lanka’s foremost directors; support for independent documentary films on women and peace (2003), political violence and memory (2005), and other topical issues; the publication of a literary journal since 1984, The Thatched Patio, which was renamed Nethra in 1996; screenings of ground-breaking films, including the first Sri Lankan screening of the then banned Purahanda Kaluwara (Death on a Full Moon Day) in 2000 and a festival of Sri Lankan films addressing the conflict in 2005; support for Artists for Peace and the Road Painting Movement; art exhibitions featuring works that grapple with issues of war and peace; literary evenings featuring prominent authors from Sri Lanka and the world; writers’ workshops; and media workshops.

Since the founding of ICES, the late Regi Siriwardena – Sri Lanka’s foremost cultural critic and renowned playwright, novelist and thinker – led ICES’s effort in arts and culture.  His death in 2004 left a gap at ICES and has presented an ongoing challenge to ICES to re-imagine its work in arts, culture and media. 

In celebration of its 25th year, ICES proposes to launch its renewed Arts, Culture and Media Programme. This Programme will build on the past work of ICES in the arts, culture and media and broaden such work, through a more systematic programmatic approach, which views the creative use of arts, culture and media as an integral component of all the work that ICES does. The year will be used to launch particular projects in the arts and media, and to develop its capacity to undertake a more systematic approach to arts, culture and media, whereby much of the work that ICES does in the areas of research, advocacy and policy not only becomes the foundation for complementary artistic and/or media projects, but also reaches a broader and more diverse audience through the effective use of media.

The events that will be held throughout ICES’s 25th year are intended to build upon and compliment each other.  They will culminate with the launch of an annual International Festival of Arts, which will bring together performing artists from countries in conflict or transition who use their art forms to promote peace and understanding.  The activities leading up to this event would explore the different creative ways in which arts, culture and media can be used now and in the future to support social transformation and contribute to a peaceful, just and inclusive world.    

The Programme promotes and celebrates the idea that arts and culture form a universal language across divides. It also celebrates the free and open space that ICES has always provided for alternative idea and imaginative visions and innovative solutions.