The Kegalle District Cultural Council met on 20.06.2025 at the District Secretariat Auditorium under the chairmanship of Assistant District Secretary Malsha L. Priya Darshani. The appointment of a new board of officers, the Kala Bhushan Award Competition, the Regional - District - National - Literary Competition, the workshops to be held in the future, the removal of the name "Kala Vibhashi" which was previously known as the District Literary Festival and the adoption of a suitable name in the future, and the upcoming program lineup to be held in the coming months of 2025 were discussed.

First of all, it was proposed to appoint a new officer for the position of Chairman, which fell vacant due to the resignation of the Chairman of the District Cultural Council, and Vice Chairman U. A. M. R. Gunaratne Mahatma was appointed and subsequently new officers were selected for other positions. Accordingly, Hemachandra Piyadasa Mahatma was appointed for the post of Secretary and M. R. Senarath Banda (Dr.) was appointed for the post of Treasurer. These positions were appointed temporarily and the new board of officers is to be selected through the General Assembly in three months. After this, information was given about the Kala Bhushan Awards Ceremony. The relevant artists are selected subject to a procedure of giving marks for each of the criteria by a nine-member jury, taking into account the following factors. The criteria are the time spent as a local artist over the age of 60, the time spent working for the advancement of art, the building of a generation of students, the current engagement in art, being a traditional artist or a veteran artist, the achievements (national, international, provincial, district and regional), the honors received and the popular works made. Anyone subject to these criteria can apply for the competition within the notified dates and times and this has been notified through public newspaper advertisements. The final decision rests with the jury.
Secondly, the information was given about the regional, district and national literary competitions. Several competitions are scheduled to be held under this, such as grades, junior, senior, secondary, etc. A large number of competitions such as storytelling, poetry singing, poetry writing, short story creation, tele-story competition, etc. are scheduled to be held and a film criticism competition has been prepared for this year. In addition, those who excel in drawing and painting, ceramic art, sculpture, cartoons, sticker art, etc. can participate in the painting and sculpture competition. The Divisional Secretariats have already been informed through relevant circulars.
A two-day workshop is scheduled to be held at the Kegalle Cultural Center on 28 - 29 June 2025 and the District Cultural Officer has informed the cultural officers of the Divisional Secretariats to provide relevant information if they are interested in participating in it.
The day of farewell to "Kala Vibhashi" is approaching
Since the name "Kala Vibhashi" used for the District Literary Festival so far has grammatical errors, it was decided to select a meaningful name in an auspicious gender that can be pronounced by everyone, under the guidance of a panel of experts. For this, it was decided to send the names created through the Cultural Officers of the Divisional Secretariat Divisions as soon as possible and to remove the old name.
The meeting held today then discussed the programs to be held in the coming months of the year. The "Kethai Bathai - Ape Gamai" program, creating magazines for the tourism industry, attitude development program, a program involving artists from the regional councils and bringing together budding artists, the second phase of the folk games to be held in August, the literary festival to be held in September, the district literary festival to be held in October, the cultural council program to be held in November and holding a cultural center concert in December (a meeting of the cultural center director) are the series of programs.
This meeting organized by the District Cultural Division was coordinated by the District Cultural Officer, Mrs. Kanchana Wijeratne. The officers of the District Cultural Council, cultural officers of the divisional secretariats and all the officers of the District Cultural Division participated in this event.