University of the Visual and Performing Arts

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Known in the immediate post-colonial era as the Government Institute of Arts and subsequently renamed as the Government School of Fine Arts, the institution was re-established as the University of the Visual and Performing Arts (UVPA) from July 2005 under the Universities Act No. 16 of 1978. Its purpose was “providing, promoting and developing higher education in the branches of the learning of Visual and Performing Arts and for advancing these arts to achieve standards of excellence in relation to their aesthetic and applied dimensions”. It today has four faculties; Graduate Studies, Dance and Drama, Faculty of Music, and the Faculty of Visual Arts.

The first Chancellor of the University of the Visual and Performing Arts was Dr. Lester James Peiris. Pandith Dr. W.D. Amaradeva was its second Chancellor. The current Chancellor of the UVPA is Prof. Sunil Ariyaratne. Prof. Rohan Nethsinghe is the present Vice Chancellor.