25th anniversary of JKH-backed Kala Pola today
View(s):The 25th anniversary of Kala Pola, Sri Lanka’s celebrated open air street fair presented by the George Keyt Foundation and the John Keells Group happens today along the sidewalks at Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha in Colombo.
It is open to the public from 8 am to 9 pm and expected to draw a much bigger crowd than previous years.
This is one of many social responsibility projects by JKH’s dedicated CSR entity, the John Keells Foundation. Established in 2005, the foundation’s work spans six focus areas; education, livelihood development, health, environmental causes, disaster relief and perhaps the most interesting of all – arts and culture, according to a media release from the corporate giant.
JKH engaged with Kala Pola in 1994 – the year after its inception, becoming one of the island’s first corporate arts patrons; 2018 also marks 24-years of unbroken patronage by the John Keells Group.
“Each year, the crowd grows, the art increases as do the incomes of artists from all over the country. Kala Pola is a guaranteed income for visual artists in Sri Lanka.
The total value of sold art increases annually and with it the artists’ income grows exponentially. Recent records show Kala Pola drawing over 327 artists, 22,000 visitors and generating Rs. 12 million in a single day’s sales that all go directly to the artists. Many things deter artists from choosing the arts as a career including its inability to generate a steady income. This is where Kala Pola has and continues to make a difference, reminding us that the arts are essential for social advancement and can be a sustainable livelihood for talented artists,” the release added.