Yogyakarta festival, promosing but underfunded

Yogyakarta festival, promosing but underfunded

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

After the much publicized royal wedding, eyes will once again set
on Yogyakarta, host of the newly opened 2002 Yogyakarta Arts
Festival XIV.

Dubbed as the province's prestigious event, the annual
festival, which will end July 7, does not receive the promotion
it deserves. No banners or posters welcome the festival or list
of the schedule of events in public places are available despite
the fact that some 1,500 artists have committed to participate in
the month-long-event.

"Promotion has always been our biggest problem due to our
limited budget," said chairman of the festival's organizing
committee Sumaryono.

The lecturer at Yogyakarta's Indonesian Arts Institute said
such a big event ideally needed a Rp 540 million budget. In fact,
the local government allocated only Rp 170 million for the event.

Efforts to find more sponsors began early this year but most
of the proposals were turned down.

Luckily, many participants are willing to finance their own
art activities, contributing some half of the total funds spent
for this year's festival. "Some, or around Rp 350 million comes
from them. Not in cash of course, but more in supplies or
services," Sumaryono said.

Some performers even voluntarily refused to accept payment. In
this case, the organizing committee provides a subsidy of between
15 percent and 40 percent of the total funds they need to
perform. This excludes those partners that offer some venues for
particular events for free.

Some sponsors, too, finance some of the events, including the
costly shadow puppet shows presenting well-known shadow puppet
masters Ki Timbul Hadiprayitno of Yogyakarta and Ki Manteb
Sudarsono of Surakarta, Central Java. Ki Timbul Hadiprayitno will
present Arjuna Kalajaya play on July 1, 2002 at Yogyakarta
Palace's Pagelaran while Ki Manteb Sudarsono will present
Ciptaning Mintaraga on July 7 at the same venue.

Of the festival's arts programs, only the art market could
bring in money of some Rp 25 million to the organizing committee.

This year's festival, in fact, can be considered better than
previous ones. For example, the organizing committee now provides
a website (www.jogja-artsfestival.com) for interested parties to
look at for more information about the festival.

The committee also plans to make a report book at the end of
the festival to allow people to read it and then provide the
committee with feedback for better festivals in the coming years.

A number of special programs in the festival, which takes
pluralism as its central theme, includes puppet week, the
national kite festival at Parangkusumo beach, Italian doll
theater show, multimedia arts exhibition and a collaborative
dance performance by Indonesian and Singaporean dancers and
choreographers.

According to Sumaryono, the puppet week takes Arjuna, a
character in shadow puppet shows, as its central theme. During
this program, a wayang exhibition and seminar titled Pengembaraan
Arjuna (Arjuna's Wandering) will be held with some experts on
wayang and Javanese culture. Puppet masters like Damarjati
Supadjar of Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University, Kuntara
Wiryamartana and Ki Timbul Hadiprayitno are among the speakers.

Unlike last year's festival, which was dominated by music
shows, this year's festival restricts it to two forms: the
plurality of Nusantara (ethnic) music and klamelan, a mixture of
pop and traditional gamelan music.

Other events include modern theater performance, comedy shows,
modern dances, fashion show, journalistic photo and painting
exhibitions.

Several regencies of Sleman, Bantul, Kulonprogo and
Gunungkidul and the Yogyakarta municipality will be given
separate schedules to present their traditional performance
specialties.

The festival, which was held for the first time in 1989, was
initiated by the Yogyakarta Art Board in a bid to strengthen
Yogyakarta's status as a cultural city as well as a tourist
destination.

It is hoped the festival will improve people's appreciation
towards arts and, at the same time, improve the quality and
competitiveness of arts.

"The festival now has become a multi-culture forum where local
artists do not only meet with counterparts from other provinces
but also from abroad," Sumaryono said.

Yogyakarta Arts Festival Agenda
(June 7 - July 7, 2002)

* Art market: Benteng Museum, Jl. Ahmad Yani 6 (tel: 0274-586934,
510996), June 7 - July 7, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
* Painting exhibition: Societed Exhibition Building, Jl.
Sriwedani 1 (tel: 0274-523512), June 7-21, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
* Batik Fashion Show: Taman Budaya Yogyakarta, Bulaksumur (tel:
0274-561914), June 8, 8 p.m.
* Painting Sales: Benteng Museum, Jl. Ahmad Yani 6 (tel: 0274-
586934, 510996), June 9, 16, 23, 30; and July 7, 10 a.m.
* Modern art performance, Taman Budaya Yogyakarta's Societed, Jl.
Sriwedani 1 (tel: 0274-523512), June 9, 8 p.m.
* Italian doll theatre performance: Taman Budaya Yogyakarta's
Societed, Jl. Sriwedani 1 (tel: 0274-523512), June 16 and 17, 8
p.m.
* World press photo exhibition: Benteng Museum, Jl. Ahmad Yani 6
(tel: 0274-586934, 510996), June 16-22, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
* Nusantara ethnic music performance: Taman Budaya Yogyakarta,
Bulaksumur (tel: 0274-561914), June 18, 8 p.m.
* Klamelan (pop and gamelan) music performance: Taman Budaya
Yogyakarta, Bulaksumur (tel: 0274-561914), June 20, 8 p.m.
* Teenage band festival: Taman Budaya Yogyakarta, Bulaksumur
(tel: 0274-561914), June 20, 8 p.m.
* Singaporean dance performance: Banjarmili Studio, June 21, 8
p.m.
* Kite festival: Parangkusumo Beach, June 22-23, 9 a.m.
* Multi media art exhibition: Benteng Museum, Jl. Ahmad Yani 6
(tel: 0274-586934, 510996), June 23 - July 7, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
* The Indonesian and Javanese literature (discussion and
performance): Yogyakarta State University (UNY), June 29 and 30,
8 p.m.
* Theatre performance by Teater Garasi: Sasana Hinggil hall, July
1-3, 8 p.m.
* Journalistic photo exhibition: Benteng Museum, Jl. Ahmad Yani 6
(tel: 0274-586934, 510996), July 1-6, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
* Wayang (puppet) exhibition: Yogyakarta Palace's Siti Hinggil
hall, July 1-7, 9 a.m.
* Shadow puppet show performance: Yogyakarta Palace's Pagelaran,
July 1, 3, 4, 5, and 7, 8 p.m.
* Seminar on wayang: Gadjah Mada University's School of
Literature, July 4, 8:30 a.m
* Mataram comedy festival: Taman Budaya Yogyakarta, Bulaksumur
(tel: 0274-561914), July 4-5, 8 p.m.
* Mataram comedy performance: Taman Budaya Yogyakarta, Bulaksumur
(tel: 0274-561914), July 6, 8 p.m.
* Closing ceremony: Yogyakarta Palace's Pagelaran, July 7, 8 p.m.