Serious art forms needed: Official

JAKARTA (JP): A recently-concluded national arts festival has shown that people need more than just entertainment; they need more serious art forms, according to a senior official of the Ministry of Education and Culture.

Many of the artistic performances at Art Summit Indonesia 1995, which ran from Sept. 23 to Oct. 12, were sold out. The festival involved 15 contemporary arts groups from nine countries.

"I hope the event has left an impression (of contemporary arts) with a large section of the public," Edi Sedyawati, Director General of Culture, said on Friday.

Her own impression, she said, is that "the public needs and likes forms of art which are more than simply entertaining."

Edi, author of a book on the growth of the performing arts in Indonesia, is not discouraged by the current greater acceptance of mass entertainment.

"That's just a matter of public relations ... of changing the public's view. It is a challenge to encourage the growth of more serious arts ... to create the need for those arts which not only entertain for a few moments, but which also enrich the soul," she said.

While acknowledging that the traditional arts promoted by the tourist industry are mostly limited to a form of entertainment, Edi said the Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications must be given credit for asking all hotels to hold performances of traditional music on a regular basis.

"Greater efforts need to be made on the part of the artists themselves," she added.

Edi dismissed the view that the government has not been serious about promoting the arts.

"The government has always been serious, although it does depend on the vision of the officials in charge," she said. Edi said the establishment of the Jakarta Arts Council in 1969, on which she once served, was an indication of the government's commitment to fostering the arts.

Also on Friday, Edi announced a plan to hold an arts congress in Jakarta on December 4-7.

The congress is intended as an opportunity to reflect on the state of the Indonesian arts scene, she said. It is also aimed at stimulating more local art experts to conduct studies in their specific fields.

"Most experts on our arts are foreigners," Edi said. (anr)