TrikonE Story

The TrikonE Arts Centre has been, from its inception in 1999, at the forefront of the struggle to defend the rights of artists in Sri Lanka and in the use of the arts to foster democratic and social change. The organization began in response to the violence encountered by Dharmasiri Bandaranayake in response to his staging of Euripides’s anti-war play, “The Trojan Women”. The principal actress Anoja Weerasinghe had her house bombed and burnt down and the music director Rukantha Gunathilaka and his wife were physically assaulted, their house plundered and property destroyed. Further productions were cancelled, as both artists had the leave the country. TrikonE was formed to bring under a single roof the voice of democracy of many such artists who have been the victims of oppression. Together with associations of journalists and other media, the two artists returned and performances of “Trojan Women” recommenced; the play became the only Sinhala production to be staged in the conflict-affected areas of the north and east, enabling Tamil-speaking people of these areas to have direct contact with Sinhala theatre. Extremists in these regions also threatened the artists with adverse consequences if they continued to exhibit the play, but the play went on regardless and has since been performed 89 times, often accompanied by organized seminars in schools on the theme of “Role of the Artists and the War”.

Since that time, TrikonE has worked with many organizations, including HELVETAS (Swiss Association for International Cooperation), HIVOS (Dutch NGO), FLICT/GTZ (Facilitating Local Initiatives for Conflict Transformation), GIZ (The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), UNDP (United Nations Development Program), SDC (Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation), World Vision Sri Lanka, IUCN(International Union for Conservation of Nature- Sri Lanka), Asian Human Rights Commission, Goethe Institute in Colombo, Indian Cultural Centre in Sri Lanka and Foundation for Co-Existence in Sri Lanka. In September 2007, it was registered as the TrikonE Cultural Foundation, lending more substance to its activities and allowing it to expand its areas of work. We continue to produce and stage Sinhala Dramas in Tamil-dominated areas and vice versa; our work has broadened to include documentary film production; film screenings; theatrical productions and workshops, visual arts exhibitions and festivals; translating Tamil and Sinhala artistic literary works into each other’s language; and taking our massage abroad through our creative pieces to the Sri Lankan Diaspora and other international audiences.

TrikonE provided a new dimension to understanding culture as a Human right and to coping with global changes and disruption of national cultures. TrikonE’s contributions have assisted in united cultural development in multicultural Sri Lankan society.

TrikonE Cultural Foundation’s mission is to work in the fields of Theatre, Cinema, and other Cultural Areas towards building a harmonious society living in peace and unity.