JP/14/IKJ

JP/14/IKJ

IKJ alumni's works displayed and sold to help campus

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Ida Indawati Khouw
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
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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 contributed a total of 165 works in the form of
paintings, ceramics and sculptures to Galeri Cipta II Taman
Ismail Marzuki in Central Jakarta, where the IKJ campus is
located.

Some of their works are for sale in an 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 auction 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.