WINGS 2016 festival celebrating art, food and conversation comes to Colombo

The WINGS festival is intended as an annual celebration of diversity, plurality and acceptance of all people in Sri Lanka and will underscore the critical role that arts and culture play in bridging communities. It will showcase the richness and diversity of Sri Lankan culture and creativity and will encompass a variety of contemporary and traditional art forms. 

Culturally, the WINGS Festival offers a unique snapshot of a community’s identity, both providing an opportunity to revitalise and preserve cultural practices, and often serving as a creative laboratory for contemporary performers. Socially, the festival serves as a means of strengthening intercultural dialogue, promoting deeper understanding through shared experience, and offering opportunities for sharing, questioning, learning, understanding and change.

The WINGS 2016 festival is organised by CARE International Sri Lanka and Deutsche Gesellschaftfür Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbHin collaboration with the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation (ONUR) and the Arts Council of Sri Lanka with support from the European Union. 

The festival is built around a triad of factors crucial for diversity: Art, Food and Conversations. Following a successful debut in Kilinochchi and an enthusiastic turnout in Ampara, the WINGS festival of Arts will move to Colombo and is being held from 6 to 13 November. The Colombo programme features a cultural festival (6-13 November), an academic conference (7-10 November), and a food festival (11-13 November). 

The WINGS Arts Festival is running from 6-13 November in locations around Colombo and will feature dance, drama performances, theatre, exhibitions, visual art, short films, and literature and dramitised readings by artists, practitioners, writers and groups from around the country that approach the concept of reconciliation through artistic processes and products. The artistic work featured in the programme will be a mix of products by established artists and art institutions as well as emerging artists speaking for a diverse range of approaches and practices that work to bring communities together. 

Additionally from 11 to 13 November, The Taste of Harmony-open air food festival will feature over 75 vendors, showcasing diverse cuisines and culinary traditions of the different ethnicities and communities from around the country; presenting not only food but also the diversity of lifestyles and beliefs. Building on Sri Lanka’s rich history of spices, flavours, and influences, home cooks, restaurateurs and food entrepreneurs will offer mouth-watering Sri Lankan cuisine at one location; the Nelum Pokuna Mawatha (Green Path). The Taste of Harmony food fair will be open to the public free of charge. 

Visit www.wingssrilanka.comfor more information.