Yogyakarta considers year-long arts festival
Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
Yogyakarta is considering holding a year-long arts festival to widen the participation of local artists and entertainers, in a plan that would replace the annual month-long Yogyakarta Arts Festival (FKY).
The quality of the performances at the FKY have been criticized. And local artists who jostle for an opportunity to take part have often been brushed aside due to limited space and time available.
Chairman of this year's FKY organizing committee, Bambang Paningron suggested on Wednesday replacing the annual festival with one that would last an entire year.
He said the idea emerged after a recent meeting between the committee and the Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X.
"I had this feeling that the sultan wanted to turn this year's FKY into an embryo to kick start a year-long arts festival," he told participants in a discussion entitled "Criticizing the 2003 FKY".
He said that if the sultan's idea could be realized, it would mark a breakthrough for the city in hosting a unique arts festival. Each month the theme of the festival would change to allow a wide variety of artists and entertainers to take part.
Renowned for its rich culture, Yogyakarta is also a major tourist destination, drawing domestic and foreign tourists who travel through the Java island on the way to Bali.
But details of the plan remained sketchy, Paningron added. Questions on whether the year-long festival would continue each year or be held on specific years only, and how to finance such an undertaking could not be answered.
The FKY has been held every year since 1989. But over the recent years, the festival has been criticized.
Critics at the discussion pointed to the preparations for the annual event, which they said lacked concept and were often poorly executed.
"At one a time an FKY organizing committee was set up just one and a half months ahead of the festival's opening," Paningron said.
"How can you expect something of quality, given such circumstances?" he asked.
To improve this year's festival and upcoming ones, he said the committee planned to standardize the preparations.
He said the organizing committee should be a fixed one whose main task would be to prepare a long term concept for the festival and secure the funds for future events.
"Now the provincial government allocates only Rp 200 million (about US$22,900) for the event. Ideally a month-long festival like this should have a budget of Rp 500 billion. This will be the task of the permanent committee," Paningron said.