Art awards programs still required

By Endi Aras

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Film Festival was once the objective of Indonesian film makers. It bestowed hundreds of Citra Awards in a number of years. When the Indonesian film world experienced a decline in the 1980s, the achievements of Indonesian film makers dwindled and collapsed not to emerge again. The festival is now just a memory.

Television in Indonesia gradually attracted the Indonesian public and became a need. TV programs (Sinetron), including the films, suddenly became the craze and replaced the widescreen cinematic Indonesian films. The Indonesian Sinetron Festival was introduced to replace the platform for the achievements of film makers. The exodus of film makers to television could not be stopped anymore. Apart from film artists and workers, producers have also jumped on the bandwagon.

In music, the BASF Awards and the HDX Awards made their appearance. The awards have been conferred ten times in appreciation of musicians who had visibly been using BASF cassettes. The HDX cassette manufacturers also extended awards to Indonesian musicians with the same purpose but only for a few years. Indonesian Education Television (TPI) also started to issue Dangdut Awards to dangdut musicians.

With the progress of both the music industry and television industries, the awards developed, although with some ups and downs. The BASF and HDX Awards, organized for the benefit of the respective companies, were not able to hold their own. The community thought there was unhealthy competition between them. It had a negative impact because the artists became divided into two blocks. The situation returned to normal when BASF stopped the activity after the 10th program. The HDX awards followed suit and silently vanished.

The bestowal of awards has certainly a good and noble objective. After the demise of a number of such programs, other sides appeared and held their own. The Indonesian Music Awards (AMI), an organization of musicians and managers of music institutes in Indonesia, conveyed their appreciation on musicians and singers who have shown achievement. The "best" category is applicable at AMI, the best album, the best recorded singer and so forth.

In 1999 AMI bestowed awards in 57 categories. AMI is deemed to still have independency because the organization is a foundation that gives its full attention to the development of music in Indonesia. AMI is not connected with any product and has no special business interest.

This year the Panasonic Awards enters its third year and will be held on Nov. 30. The awards are especially designed for national television. What distinguishes them from AMI is they focus on national television. Its evaluation is not on "the best" but the "favorite" or "most popular". If AMI decides its nominations on the evaluation of the council of adjudicators, the Panasonic Awards have a different criteria.

The "favorite" is the right choice for the Panasonic Awards because there is no evaluation that yields a winner, there is only an evaluation based on a polling of television viewers. The result is the "most popular", for instance, the favorite television program and the favorite female comedy artist.

Like AMI, the Panasonic Awards have independency. The organization has no connection with any of the television stations. Panasonic's interest in the awards is the promotion of its products, one of its public relations activities. In the evaluation, Panasonic has no interest at all because there are other organizations for that.

Through Citra magazine, the Gramedia group provides the back- up for the Panasonic Awards program in conducting the polling activities. This system of evaluation by polling, conducted by the Panasonic Awards, is viewed as having a lot of credibility.

Different from the awarding already in existence, many sides and community groups are involved in the Panasonic Awards. In the matter of giving an evaluation, for example. The system of polling among television viewers is a plus point for the Panasonic Awards. There are also more artists involved in the process. It is a combination of the existing awards. Sinetron and music artists are evaluated in 34 categories.

This fusion involves many people connected with television, Sinetron artists, presenters and television programs take part in the Panasonic Awards. This year sees an additional category, the Video Clip Favorite, which is also based on the choice of viewers.

The Panasonic Awards include a variety of categories, from Favorite Television Star and Favorite Television Program to Favorite Music Video Clip and Favorite News Reader. It shows the varied categories that are the viewers' choice.

Community members, especially the people participating in the polls, will be proud if their choice obtains an award. Artists whose work is appreciated by the Panasonic Awards will feel it is a significant achievement because the victory is not only decided by a small number of jury members but by the general public.

With this polling system, the possibility for cheating and subjective impressions is minuscule. The organizers, in this case Panasonic, have no interest in the winners. Everything is left to the public. If there is an artist or a program that has been conferred the award continuously from year to year, it is the public's choice. It means the artist or the program is indeed popular.

Is Panasonic capable of organizing the conferral of awards? It gets no direct profit from the activity. Organizations like this are needed. There is also a need for synergy from various sides that have the same vision and objective.

The ups and downs of organizing awards programs must perhaps be studied further. Involvement by the government that so far appears to be half-hearted is to be questioned. Now, institutes that may have ample funds can organize awards programs. The distribution of awards needs considerable financing.

If there is willingness on the part of the government, it can certainly do it. It can confer awards to artists in all fields nationwide without political or commercial interest. This institute would be in a position to adopt a format from various existing awards programs by combining them in accordance with existing needs. So far, appreciation for artists is still based on the interests of certain sides, not on real appreciation.

The many existing awards programs are still needed and they need to be maintained. Apart from encouraging achievement in the field of art, they offer more possibilities to artists to gain further achievements. If necessary, the Indonesian Film Festival which was the objective of the film makers, can be given a new lease of life.