IKJ alumni work together to help campus

Ida Indawati Khouw, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Back to school. That was the mission for fifty five alumni of the Jakarta Institute of Arts (IKJ) who have been working hand-in-hand to stage the Peduli IKJ (Care about IKJ) exhibition from Nov. 21 to Nov. 23. The exhibition is designed to help overcome the institute's financial problems.

The graduates displayed a total of 165 works in the form of paintings, ceramics and sculptures at Galeri Cipta II Taman Ismail Marzuki in Central Jakarta, where the IKJ campus is located.

All of their works are for sale, some of them through auction, with artists contributing 30 percent of the sale price to the institute.

"It's the same percentage that artists usually share with art galleries," said IKJ's Assistant Rector for Cooperation Affairs, Gotot Prakosa, whose paintings are also on display.

Many well-known artists are participating in the exhibition including painters Astari Rasjid, Maarthi Djorghi and M. Firman Ichsan; sculptors Dolorosa Sinaga, Iriantine Karnaya and Benny R. Tahalele; ceramic artists Hildawati Sumantri and Lydia Poetrie, and caricature specialist Syahrinur Prinka. Their works are selling from between Rp 2 million (US$190) and Rp 150 million (US$14,250).

Gotot said the event, being held for the first time, would act as a stimulus for staging art exhibitions on a regular basis, starting next year.

"We hope to have this kind of activity staged quarterly by all IKJ's departments. Furthermore, we are now discussing the possibility of our alumni sharing five percent of their income with IKJ every time they sell their artworks -- something like a copyright for using the IKJ's name."

IKJ has produced some great artists who have established not only a national but also an international reputation. But the institute has faced financial problems ever since its establishment 31 years ago.

Indeed, as Pia Alisjahbana from the Yayasan Kesenian Jakarta (the Jakarta Arts Foundation, which supervises IKJ) said in her speech at the opening, an educational institution would always need financial support because student fees were never enough to fund the education process.

With its special mission to promote the arts, IKJ must offer all sorts of study programs even though some of them have no "selling point".

IKJ Assistant Rector for Academic Affairs, Wagiono Sunarto, cited the example of the ceramics department in the fine arts faculty, which has had to continue with its program despite having only two students this school year. Similar situations are also faced by other areas of the Institute, including the film study and dance departments.

"Having a nearly empty class is very expensive. A student in the dance department must pay a Rp 7 million fee in the first year and Rp 1.5 million each (successive) year," he said.

Having 1,200 students, 128 lecturers, 120 other employees and 28 study programs imposes operational costs on IKJ of Rp 5 billion annually, with a Rp 1.5 billion deficit per year.

Gotot said the funds raised from the sale of the art works would not only help the institute meet its operational costs but would also be channeled to potential students who were facing financial difficulties.

"We have many students from outside Java including those from Irian Jaya and Kalimantan. Some of them receive support from the provincial municipalities but the funds can reach them late.

"Due to the lack of money, they sometimes spend nights in the pavilions at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah and walk to the campus. Thus, we should support these kinds of students," said Gotot.