Changemakers to the fore at Women’s Day Festival
View(s):Celebrating International Women’s Day in March, the Cargills International Women’s Day Festival ‘The Changemakers’ will be held at Taru Villas Lake Lodge in Colombo over four Mondays – March 1, 8, 15 and 22.
Designed to celebrate women who are championing change, the Festival will highlight women’s ability to transform, adapt and be the change, while also stimulating debate, building knowledge and advocating gender equality. The Festival is a collaboration between online digital programme Kaleidoscope with Savithri Rodrigo and Table by Taru at Lake Lodge, a small luxury boutique hotel in the heart of the city. Each day begins with dialogue and discussion and concludes with apéritifs and canapés. The Festival will be held across the four Mondays featuring different panels and moderated by host, director and executive producer of Kaleidoscope, Savithri Rodrigo.
“Renowned for her unusual and innovative events, Taru hopes that this will be the genesis of an annual event in breaking new ground with the focus of inspire, empower and connect,” says Brand Communications Specialist for Taru Management Mahika Chandrasena.
Savithri adds, “From its inception, Kaleidoscope has highlighted achievers, pioneers, disruptors, peace builders and entrepreneurs, placing the spotlight primarily on women, as the focus on women’s achievements, their determination and commitment to instigate change is rarely spotlighted in the media.”
The Changemakers will be held at the newly revamped restaurant Table by Taru. Seating is limited as stringent COVID-19 guidelines are being followed.
Tickets are priced at Rs. 20,000 for the Festival Pass (access to all events of the festival) and Rs. 6,000 for the Day Pass to an individual event. For more information, call 0768 119 191. Cargills is the Festival title partner, while the UNFPA is event partner. The beverage partner is Wineworld, Healing Island is wellness partner, radio partner is Lite 87 and official digital media partners are Hi Online, Daily Mirror Online and Daily Mirror Weekend Online.
The programme is as follows:
Yamini Ravindran
Day 1 – March 1 -
The Peace Prompters: Women activists who have been fighting to advance peace, reconciliation and nation building. Panelists are author and researcher Sarah Kabir, Writer, researcher and activist Amalini De
Sayrah and Director for Legal and Advocacy NCEASL Yamini Ravindran.
Ashanthi de Alwis
Day 2 – March 8 –
The Pioneers: Women who have chosen to challenge conventional career paths. Panelists are Triad Joint Managing Director Varuni Amunugama Fernando, Hemas Holdings Group CEO Kasturi Chellarajah Wilson and Sri Lanka’s first hip hop artiste Ashanthi de Alwis.
Layla Gonaduwa
Day 3 – March 15 –
The Creative Forces: This session features author and publisher Ameena Hussein, inter-disciplinary artist and Pro Helvetia awardee Layla Gonaduwa and principal dancer of the Chitrasena Dance Company Thaji Dias.
Blok and Dino
Day 4 – March 22 –
The Disruptors: This concluding day will see Session 1 panelists Co-Founder/CEO of GoodLife Accelerator, Randhula De Silva, Founder of Ape and Co-Founder and COO of COLLAB and Co-Founder of Good Market Achala Samaradivakara while Session 2 will bring in comedy duo Gehan
Blok and Dino Corera to discuss the portrayal
of women in disruptive comedy.
| Creating art with a splash of coffee | |
 Drawing with coffee?Nalinie Kodikara’s fourth art exhibition will feature the artist’s own unique skills in this medium. The exhibition consists of many of her works done with coffee.The exhibition that will be declared open by Dr. Punchi Nilame Meegaswatte at the Lionel Wendt Art Gallery, Colombo 7, on Saturday, February 27 will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday, February 28.Nalinie will also exhibit paintings done with oils as well as acrylics depicting historical as well as contemporary themes. She had her maiden art exhibition at the Art Gallery in 2012. Her two subsequent exhibitions were in Oman. Nalinie has been a preschool teacher in Nigeria and Sri Lanka for 25 years. She has also written five books for children and adults. |