Mega to open Bali Arts Festival

DENPASAR, Bali: President Megawati Soekarnoputri is scheduled to open the annual Bali Arts Festival here on Monday afternoon.

The opening was supposed to take place on Saturday, but was delayed pending the return of Megawati from her European trip, the organizing committee said in a statement on Saturday.

The Bali Arts Festival is Indonesia's biggest annual arts festival and involves hundreds of artists from Bali and other provinces in Indonesia as well as foreign artists from Japan, Singapore, Korea, Australia, Norway and other European countries.

As many as 184 forms of traditional to contemporary performing arts will be presented at the Denpasar Arts Center complex during the month-long festival, which will end on July 20 and coincides with the local school holidays and summer holidays for foreign visitors to Bali.

A number of art exhibitions, seminars on art and culture as well as workshops will be held during the festival. -- JP