LIA Foundation promote cultural/sport activities

LIA Foundation promote cultural/sport activities

By Lenah Susianty

JAKARTA (JP): "What a glorious weekend it was in Jakarta for
lovers of music and art!" wrote Judith Butler Fravel, an
expatriate living in Jakarta.

"The people of Jakarta were presented with the vocal master
piece,Carmina Burana, enhanced with a very professional chorus,
vocal soloists and ballerinas. It was an absolutely first class
production incorporating the talents of many local families in
its entourage," continued Fravel in the Your letters column of
The Jakarta Post on April 19.

The International Choir of the PPIA (Indonesian-American
Friendship Association) is currently organized by the Public
Service Institute of the LIA Foundation which is celebrating its
35th anniversary today.

Historically, the choir, established in 1969 by LIA, aimed to
increase fellowship and friendship between Indonesians and
Americans residing in Jakarta.

In accordance with the association's development into a
foundation in 1986, membership in the choir is no longer limited
to Indonesians and Americans, but also includes other
nationalities including French, Japanese, Dutch and German.

The choir, which has been assisted by the Erasmus Huis Chamber
Orchestra for 18 years, now has 100 members.

At first the choir performed mostly Indonesian and American
national and folk songs, along with other short choral
compositions. Soon, however, the choir became confident enough to
sing more complex choral works including the works of the great
composers Bach, Haydn and Mozart, as well as works by Indonesian
composers like Tri Sutji Kamal.

"That is the reason I joined the choir. It is very rare to
find a choir which is willing to attempt such a difficult
repertoire," said Salomo Simanungkalit, one of tenors of the
choir, adding that it also allows him to meet Jakarta's
international society.

Other activities

Singing is not the only thing at the LIA Foundation.

The foundation's Public Service Institute is currently engaged
in other humanitarian, artistic, sporting and scientific
activities.

"We have a Javanese karawitan and dance group and are active
in tennis, badminton, football, cycling and Merpati Putih martial
arts," Prajitno S.I., director of the LIA Foundation's Public
Service Institute, told the Post in a recent interview.

All activities are open to students, staff, teachers and the
public and are all free of charge.

Prajitno added that the cultural activities cover a great
variety of programs ranging from lectures, discussions, art
exhibitions, film presentations, dramas, poetry reading and the
publication of a bi-monthly English magazine for teenagers called
Contact.

The Contact magazine is distributed to all students and is
incorporated into their English courses.

"We are planning to sell the magazine to the public next year,
but our market will remain the teenagers," Prajitno revealed,
adding that the magazine has a circulation of 50,000 copies.

The foundation also publishes an English journal named
Perspectives as a communication medium among its teachers. The
journal, issued every four months, has a circulation of 1,000.

Blood donation and help for victims of earthquakes, floods and
other calamities are also part of the Public Service Institute's
program.

"We have also established two village libraries, one in
Sukabumi, West Java, and the other in Banjarnegara, Central
Java," Prajitno explained, adding that they have been presented
awards for being model village libraries and have received an
enthusiastic response.

The LIA Foundation also has public libraries at its four
branches in Jakarta, namely on Jl. Pramuka, Jl. S. Parman, Jl.
M.T. Haryono and at its downtown school and also in Bogor and
Yogyakarta.

Its biggest library is located at the foundation's
headquarters on Jl. Pramuka. It now has 2,500 reference books and
20,000 textbooks. The collection includes American and Indonesian
publications and is complemented by 60 foreign magazines and 25
domestic ones.

"Our libraries keep growing, partly thanks to the Asia
Foundation which has helped enrich our collection," Prajitno
said.