H. Widayat Museum appoints strong management team

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Magelang

Museums, especially here in Indonesia, are often dusty and neglected.

They also lack funding, are sometimes mismanaged and their collections are often badly displayed, regardless of their intrinsic value.

That does not seem to be the case with H Widayat Museum on Jl. Letnan Tukiyat 32, Mungkid, Magelang, which announced its new management team very recently.

Built by Indonesia's painting maestro Widayat in 1993, the museum is not just well maintained physically but is also active in hosting regular art exhibitions, workshops and competitions at the local, national and international level.

It has just officially launched a new facility in the 7,000- square meter compound, the Hj. Soemini Art Shop, where souvenirs and other H Widayat Museum merchandise is displayed for sale.

"This building will complete the whole complex," said Fajar Pusnomo Sidi, former director of the museum, who is also one of the sons of the late Widayat, at the recent launching ceremony.

The complex comprises three main parts, H Widayat Museum, Hj. Soewarni Gallery, and Hj. Soemini Art Shop. The gallery and the art shops were dedicated to Widayat's two wives, the late Soewarni and Soemini, who had given him a total of 11 siblings.

A well-designed artificial park is also a feature of the complex, with various tropical plants, flowers, and fruits and birds as its main attraction. Here, in the park, are displayed some of Widayat's fine art works including statues and ceramic works.

The museum occupies the two-story main building, erected on 5,000 square meters of land, which uses natural sunlight via its windows and walls for lighting.

Architect Eji Sukaji, whom Widayat once met while he was on pilgrimage to Mecca, designed the main building of the museum.

The ground floor is for the display of Widayat's own paintings, while the upper floor for the work of other artists.

"We have more than a thousand of Bapak (Widayat's) own paintings to display at the museum in turn and some 500 further paintings by other artists," H Widayat Museum's newly installed director Hendro Wardoyo told The Jakarta Post.

"We, the management, is prohibited from selling anything in the museum collection. Gallery items may be sold for developing the museum or other appropriate purposes," he added.

Widayat was a prolific artist. Even in his 80s he was still able to find time to paint.

He is believed to have left numerous works of various types, including paintings, when he died at aged 83 in 2002.

For the daily maintenance of the museum Widayat left an endowment fund in a bank account for his children to manage. This might be the reason that other museums face funding problems, while H Widayat Museum does not.

"We need about Rp 15 million for the monthly operational costs of the museum, which we take from the endowment fund. So far, this has really helped us with the maintenance work," said Hendro, who is a former lecturer at the Indonesian Islamic University (UII) in Yogyakarta.

Since its official opening in 1994, members of Widayat's extended family have always managed the museum. Initially, his second wife, Soemini, took control. When she died in 1999, the family agreed to appoint Fajar Purnomo Sidi as director for the period 2000 to 2005.

"We have now agreed to manage it collectively, with each of us taking turns to become director for a three-year period, starting this year," Hendro said.

That way, he said, each of the 11 children of Widayat's two daughters and four sons from his first wife, and five sons from the second would have a chance to manage the museum.

That, too, would hopefully prevent the 11 siblings from squabbling over the management or from feeling sidelined.

"We consider this to be the mandate from our parents. So, each of us should have experience of day-to-day operations at the museum, which is essentially a nonprofit institution," Hendro, the eldest son of Widayat's first wife, said at the launch of Hj. Soemini Art Shop.

Fajar agreed, saying that the decision of Widayat's family to rotate the museum leadership was also aimed at educating the various generations in the family. A change in leadership, he said, would hopefully also produce better performance.

"Each of us has an obligation to prove our dedication to maintaining the good name of our father. This is one way of proving it," Fajar once said.

Through a lottery, Hendro Wardoyo, the first son of Widayat's first wife, was appointed as the director of the museum for the period 2005 to 2008 while his elder sister, Wardiningsih, was appointed head of domestic affairs at the museum.

The other nine siblings automatically became members of the museum's board of commissioners.

To support the management, a board of curators has also been formed to help determine the museum policies and work programs.

The board comprises noted painting collector-cum-curator Oei Hong Djien, curators Suwarno Wisetrotomo and M. Dwi Marianto of the Indonesian Arts Institute (ISI) Yogyakarta, and Hermanu of the gallery, Bentara Budaya Yogyakarta.

"With this strong management team in place we hope the museum will prosper and thrive," Hendro said.