What a Sunday it was last weekend, when Sri Lanka’s annual open-air art fair, ‘Kala Pola’ broke into a kaleidoscope of colour on the road outside the staid and venerable National Art Gallery on Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha in Colombo 07.

 Now a regular feature of Sri Lanka’s cultural calendar, Kala Pola this year attracted well over 300 artists and sculptors from different parts of Sri Lanka who displayed their talent to nearly 5000+ people in a fabulous ambiance of music, song, fun, stilt walkers and the like.

 A concept by the George Keyt Foundation, Kala Pola enjoys the unbroken patronage of the John Keells Group for the 16th consecutive year and this year had US Ambassador HE Robert Blake gracing the occasion as Chief Guest and UN Resident Representative Neil Buhne as Guest of Honour. Security notwithstanding, Ambassador Blake and family were seen spending a greater part of their Sunday morning at Kala Pola, patiently visiting almost every stall and talking to and encouraging the painters and sculptors.

 The weather gods too smiled over Kala Pola, attracting people in their hundreds, as the wise move to make one side of Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha entirely pedestrian-only paid dividends. The feeling was exuberant to say the least. Visitors from different walks of life sat under trees, sat on the pavement or just ambled along under the shade of the trees, taking in the seemingly Bohemian ambiance of this popular event.

 They came not only from Colombo, but from Kandy and Galle and Kurunegala and Matara and beyond. A Frenchman, resident of Montmartre in Paris who spends the winter months in Tangalle said he loved the ambiance at Kala Pola. "It reminds me so much of where I live back home". ‘Place du Tertre’ (Tertre Square) in Montmartre in Paris is a famous open air and permanent art fair and attracts hundreds of tourists and visitors all year through. With all this talent, wouldn’t it be nice if Colombo also has its own permanent art fair", he enthused.

 Yes course, why not indeed … since Kala Pola also serves as a valuable forum for artists and sculptors to launch and boost their careers, build a steady clientele, and thereby promote art as a lucrative and professional career. Many artists have been successful in this regard and even gone onto launch careers in the international arena after showcasing their work at Kala Pola.

 Added President of the George Keyt Foundation, Cedric de Silva, "Kala Pola gives these hundreds of artists and sculptors the unique opportunity of showcasing their work to a very large number of buyers. This is, indeed, a boon to these highly talented, yet very simple men and women, some of whom may not be able to exhibit in Colombo’s regular art galleries."

 Sumithra Gunesekera, Director, John Keells Holdings said that the John Keells Social Responsibility Foundation is strongly committed to supporting the arts and culture of our country. "We believe that nurturing the arts, is essential to preserving the soul of society and that it is our responsibility to keep the arts alive", he added.