NTB Museum expands cultural diplomacy to Australia

The Nusa Tenggara Barat (NTB) Museum is expanding cultural diplomacy through a series of programmes featuring a traditional textile exhibition and a keris care workshop in Adelaide and Darwin, Australia. Museum head Ahmad Nuralam stated that the institution aims to elevate existing diplomatic relations to a technical level through people-to-people contracts via cultural channels. “Our scope may be small, but we are striving to introduce local culture to Australia,” he said in Mataram, NTB, on Friday. The museum has two cultural diplomacy agendas in Australia: an exhibition titled One Trip Two Island: Lombok and Bali Textile in Adelaide in September 2026, followed by a workshop on keris maintenance in Darwin in November 2026. Nuralam explained that the museum is preparing a range of traditional textile collections for the Adelaide exhibition, including umbak, songket, osap, and kemalik fabrics. Meanwhile, activities in Darwin will feature a keris care workshop, a short film screening, cultural discussions, and a Museum Goes to Darwin programme targeting local schools. He emphasised that cultural diplomacy is a vital instrument for strengthening relations between Indonesia and Australia as neighbouring countries. “Indonesia and Australia are neighbours that, for some time, may not have been a priority. Now, we want a relationship where both countries need each other,” he said. The keris maintenance workshop is a flagship programme because many collectors in Darwin own keris but lack knowledge on how to care for them and preserve their beauty and pamor patterns. The museum is committed to sharing traditional knowledge systems attached to these cultural objects, including the use of warangan, a special solution for keris care. Gina Fadilla, Consular Officer for Information and Socio-Cultural Affairs at the Indonesian Consulate in Darwin, noted that Australia is a strategic partner for Indonesia due to geographical proximity and the strong interest Australians have in Indonesia. She added that the Northern Territory requires primary school children to learn a foreign language, and they study Bahasa Indonesia. She assessed that the NTB Museum’s cultural diplomacy activities in Adelaide and Darwin would further strengthen bilateral relations between Indonesia and Australia.