Int'l school to build playhouse
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The British International School (BIS) is planning a US$5 million performing arts center, which it says will be the largest and most-modern in the city.
The center, to be built on the school's campus in Bintaro, Tangerang, will also be open to the public.
BIS principal Peter Derby-Crook said on Wednesday the project was in line with the school's focus on the arts and sports.
"Performing arts and sports develop a sense of confidence, leadership and teamwork in children," he said. "We already have state-of-the-art facilities for sports and we will soon complete the performing arts center."
The center will include a 800-seat theater for large drama workshops that can be scaled down for smaller productions. Designed by New Zealand architecture firm Beca, the construction of the center will start next year with a completion target of 2006.
The new facility will join the Jakarta Playhouse in Pasar Baru, the Taman Ismail Marzuki Arts Center Playhouse in Cikini and the Balai Sarbini in Semanggi, all in Central Jakarta.
Performing arts is an integrated part of the BIS curriculum and students are encouraged to participate early on, starting with simple role play in theater classes to fully produced plays at secondary level.
Other facilities at the school include an Olympic-sized swimming pool, soccer fields and a fully equipped science and technology center.
Nindy, 16, who studies drama at the school, said she enjoyed attending BIS because of the diversity of the students.
"By studying here, we get to interact and make friends with many people from different countries and cultures," she said.
BIS was established in 1973 by the British and Australian embassies in Indonesia. The school was previously located in Permata Hijau, South Jakarta, but later moved to its new 18- hectare campus in Bintaro in 1993.
Currently, there are 950 students enrolled in the school. Some 20 percent of them are Indonesians. BIS started to accept Indonesians four years ago.
The tuition fees for each student are about US$13,000 per year.