Experts call for inclusion of arts in schools

Experts call for inclusion of arts in schools

By Linda Hoemar Abidin

JAKARTA (JP): Discussions on the problems and challenges of
multicultural works in the performing arts were at the heart of
the International Seminar on Contemporary Performing Arts in
conjunction with the Third Art Summit Indonesia 2001.

The two-day seminar, on Sept. 14 and Sept. 15, was organized
by the Directorate General for the Arts under the office of the
State Minister of Culture and Tourism at Hotel Indonesia.

Ten speakers from eight countries were present at the seminar.
Ian Jarvis Brown from Australia, Saini K. M. from Indonesia and
Krishen Jit from Malaysia represented the field of theater while
Leonardo D'Amico from Italy, Rahayu Supanggah from Indonesia and
Anderson Sutton from the United States represented the field of
music. Further, Kazuko Kuniyoshi from Japan, Pornrat Damrhung
from Thailand, Klaus Witzeling from Germany and Sardono W. Kusumo
from Indonesia represented the field of dance.

The Art Summit was designed to provide a forum of peace at a
time of conflict - a forum to promote dialog and tolerance.
Therefore, the seminar was meant to support the creation of a
conceptual map of the situations and problems brought upon
multicultural encounters and collaborations in the contemporary
performing arts scene.

In an increasingly global world, amid political conflict and
economic boundaries, opportunities for artists from different
cultures to interact with each other and to enrich their own
artistic expression have also increased. These encounters and
collaborations bring forth not only opportunities but also
challenges.

Facilitated by international funding agencies, many
collaborative efforts involving artists from various cultures
have taken place in the last decades.

In his presentation "Multiculturalism: Sources and
Opportunities," Jit talked about Peter Brook's The Mahabharata,
which involved an international cast of actors from England,
France, Turkey, Japan, Iran, Poland, Italy, South Africa,
Senegal, India and Indonesia.

By using the famed Indian epic as a universal story and
working with artists from different cultures, Brook, an American
living in Paris, created a phenomenal sensibility, which provoked
a controversy.

Most recently, a Japanese playwright with Singaporean director
Ong Keng Sen collaborated with actors, dancers and musicians from
Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand and
Indonesia in the production of Lear, an adaptation of
Shakespeare's King Lear. Lear brought together an array of
traditional Asian forms of performing arts, such as the Japanese
Noh theater, the Beijing Opera, the West Sumatra martial arts and
Gamelan music.

In Lear, actors used the language of their own nationality. As
a consequence, the use of subtitles during the performance became
a necessity. Both Lear and The Mahabharata exemplify the
contemporary artists' struggle in search of new forms of
expression.

By addressing global issues and bringing together artists from
various cultural backgrounds, a multicultural work based on new
approaches would emerge. The collaborative process, however, is
not without its many challenges.

Rahayu, in her paper "Collaboration: Prospects and Problems,"
conveyed that, too often, cultural collaborations take place over
a very short period of time, such as during a festival, which is
not ideal.

Sardono later added that a cultural collaboration's emphasis
is on the process rather than the final product. It is not about
attaining a new technique, but about deepening one's
understanding about other people's lives -- it is about observing
and absorbing different cultures.

Kuniyoshi said in her paper "Multinational Co-Productions in
Japan," that a continuous effort and sensitivity is key in
supporting a two-way communication process in collaborative
projects that involve different cultures.

Certainly, audiences need to be prepared in the context of
what sort of multicultural production they are about to see. This
notion was further supported by Sutton in his paper "Presenting
and Representing: Indonesian Performing Arts Across Cultural
Boundaries."

Sutton, having been involved in the Festival of Indonesia in
the United States (KIAS) in 1990 and 1991, suggested that, in
addition to the preparation process, a sustained effort in
follow-up activities by performers, promoters and educators must
be made toward nurturing a mutual appreciation and understanding
through a cross-cultural dialog.

The responsibilities of artists to foster an open and
continuous communication with the wider public was further
elaborated by Damrhung in her paper "Performing Arts: Missions
and the Problem of Communication".

Damrhung, who had spoken earlier during the Indonesian
Performing Arts Society seminar about the role of education, in
the field of cultural management, stated that it is the artists'
duty to create new works through the act of listening, conducting
discussions and collaborations. She is a firm believer that this
is an issue of education, which needs to be fully supported by
the government.

To ensure that traditional arts and culture remain a vital
part of our future society, the arts must have a firm place
within the schools.

Learning to work together with people from different
backgrounds, to overcome the challenges that multicultural
encounters pose, requires an active engagement in practical ways
to gain not only an understanding, but also tolerance and respect
for other people.

The writer is the performing arts management lecturer at the
Jakarta Institute for the Arts (IKJ)