Six Creative Career Choices in Sri Lanka

Brought to you by AMDT

Sri Lanka has a long and rich heritage of arts and culture. With its strategic location, we’ve been blessed with visitors from across the globe, who have gradually added layers of complexity and hybridity to our art and culture.

That said, it’s unsurprising that many Sri Lankans harbour great skill in when it comes to art and design, drawing from various schools of art, be it Sinhalese, Tamil, Islamic or Western. Sadly our society has placed emphasis on more career paths considered more prestigious or productive. As the old South Asian stereotype goes, we all want our children to be doctors, lawyers or engineers.

But with the Sri Lankan economy diversifying and moving more and more towards services, there is more room than ever before to pursue a more creative career path. Here are six such modern career options for budding Sri Lankan creatives.

1. 3D Animation

A generation ago Sri Lankan kids used to play outdoors, flying kites and whacking cricket balls across the street. While many still experience this, an increasing number of young millennials have fonder memories of video games and animated films and tv shows.

3D animation may seem like an odd choice, after all Sri Lanka can hardly claim to have its own version of studios like Pixar or a large scene of indie video game studios. Yet that could slowly be changing. 3D animation seems set to take off in Sri lanka with widespread use in advertising as well as the development of ambitious games like Kancha Yuda.

2. Fashion Design

Sri Lankan fashion may not enjoy the international prestige and recognition of its immediate neighbour India, but we’re no pushovers either. With a confluence of cultural influences both eastern and western, there’s more to Sri Lankan fashion than saris, sarongs and batik prints.

Colombo today is home to a number of fashion shows, a budding Design market as well as a growing community of independent designers who are pushing the boundaries of what entails a Sri Lankan aesthetic. It’s a career choice that, at the very least, promises to be very colourful, from the work you do to the company you keep.

3. Photography

It’s not too much of an exaggeration to say that Sri Lanka is one of the most photogenic places on the planet, what with our pristine beaches, lush hill country, ancient cities and unique wildlife. With tourism and business booming in the post-war era, everyone is trying to look at the island in a new light.

Photography is an appealing career choice simply for the sheer diversity of subjects one could choose to dedicate their careers to photographing. The lifestyle of a freelance photographer may require some hustle but it comes with many opportunities to travel the island, and an experienced photographer can attract quite the fee.

4. Filmmaking

Sri Lanka’s first great film was arguably ‘Rekava’, produced 8 short years after independence. Despite the many obstacles since, from the struggling economy to the insurrection, war and state censorship, we have continued to produce many regionally-respected films, directors and film stars. Given the pervasiveness of dance and street theatre in local culture, it is unsurprising then that film has also captured the imagination of Sri Lankans.

Nowadays Sri Lankan filmmakers receive patronage from festivals in Europe and around the world. Domestically too, the scene is expanding with annual film festivals held in both Colombo and Jaffna, while filmmaking courses are available from many institutions. Theres no shortage of stories to tell in Sri Lanka, and what better medium than film to capture the chaos and colour of a developing country like ours.

5. Graphic Design

A career in graphic design might sound somewhat generic compared to the other options on this list, but that’s largely due to the variety of talents one picks up along the way. Graphic design can take you anywhere, from the world of advertising and marketing to more traditionally creative pursuits like digital art.

Graphic design can also be useful to pursuing a career in both print and online media.

6. Multimedia Design

Perhaps the most jack-of-all-trades career choice on this list, a career in multimedia design can open up a lot of doors and give you a diverse set of skills that can be applied in a number of different fields. As Sri Lanka’s economy veers towards the digital world, a working knowledge of photo, video, graphic design and programming is attractive to any employer.

Skills in Multimedia design can basically be applied to any sort of interactive application, from websites to mobile applications to video games. It’s the sort of field hat will keep you on the cutting edge of digital technology, keeping your worklife consistently new and exciting.

Brought to you by AMDT. Start your Creative Career in Graphic Design, Fashion Design, Filmmaking, 3D Animation, Photography, Advertising or Marketing this September. Visit www.amdt.lk

Cover image: thenextweb.com