Sunitha Janamohanan has worked in the arts since 1999 with a portfolio that covers a range of art forms and creative industries, from visual and performing arts to literature and film, design, animation, music and heritage.

She has been a curator in the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia, arts manager and head of programmes for the British Council Malaysia, and Education and Outreach Manager for George Town World Heritage Inc., in Penang. Prior to moving to Singapore, she was the manager of a multipurpose art space called MAPKL in Kuala Lumpur.

In 2018 she participated in a UNESCO workshop for experts from the Asia-Pacific region on the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of Expressions of Cultural Diversity, and in 2019 conducted a study on the financial environment for the cultural and creative industries in the Southeast Asian sub-region for the UNESCO office in Bangkok.

She has been a member of the Heritage Advisory Panel for the National Heritage Board of Singapore for three terms (2018–2024), serving on a sub-committee for Intangible Cultural Heritage, and being on the selection panel for the annual Stewards of Singapore’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Award Scheme.

At LASALLE she is the coordinator of ANCER, the Asia-Pacific Network of Cultural Education and Research, and has been the co-convenor of ANCER Labs and conferences.

In 2013 she was the researcher for a project to document community-based Arts & Culture Workers in Malaysia initiated by the Penang-based NGO Arts-ED, which led to the founding of a fledgling network of community engaged arts practitioners in the Southeast and East Asian region. She continues to research community engaged arts and social practice, speaking and moderating in regional forums.

Sunitha’s research interests also include local arts management models in Southeast Asia. She is also interested in the intersections of social practice, labour, organisational behaviour and cultural leadership.