Cempaka Culture and Tourism: Festivals promote Jakarta as regional cultural capital

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

Friday, December 28, 2007

Festivals promote Jakarta as regional cultural capital

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Behind the visible poverty, endless traffic jams and nauseating polluted air, Jakarta has hidden treasures that are unrivaled by other big cities in the country, and possibly even in Southeast Asia.

They go together to make up the city's arts and culture scene.

Jakarta has a wide range of arts and cultural events, both of national and international importance, that have been thriving while gaining support from an increasingly wider audience, both from Jakarta and outside the city.

In addition to the older festivals, this year saw two new arrivals: the Urban Festival, or Urbanfest 2007, and the Jakarta International Photo Summit 2007.

The Urban Festival, a two-day festival in late August, involved a list of events, mostly beginning with the word "urban": Urban Distro, Urban Photo Exhibition, Urban Dancing, Urban Tattoo, Face Painting, Local Comics Exhibition and many others.

Held at the Ancol Dream Park in North Jakarta, the maiden Urban Festival did not gain much recognition. However, it is too soon to say it was a flop.

The ten-day Jakarta International Photo Summit 2007, from Dec. 3 to Dec. 13, also did not see many people turning up at the National Gallery in Central Jakarta. However, the curators and the summit's promoters, Oscar Motuloh and Alexander Supartono, still plan to hold the summit once every three years.

The summit itself boasted 150 images from international art photographers.

On top of the newcomers, the city has a list of established festivals, national and international, big and small. One of the most popular is the Jakarta International Film Festival, or Jiffest.

Now in its 9th year, the festival is seeing growing audiences, number of movies screened, and, perhaps most importantly, popularity, and is increasingly attracting visitors from outside Jakarta.

The smaller Q! Film Festival has also thrived by creating its own niche. The Sixth Q! Film Festival's organizers reported a growth in audience numbers this year.

Besides Jiffest, the more commercial and glamorous Java Jazz festival is also gaining greater popularity.

Meanwhile, the community-based and longer-standing Jakarta International Jazz Festival, or JakJazz, is also showing a determination to survive by staging its second revival after years of hiatus. This year's festival received a warm reception from jazz buffs around the country.

These festivals are only a few of the many cultural and arts festivals in Jakarta.

Some of the festivals are initiated by young people who only have dreams, extensive networks, cultural capital and marketing skills to work on, but little money.

Names like Shanty Harmayn and John Badalu, for example, are household names among the country's film buffs.

Besides the large festivals, young people are also at the forefront of smaller exhibitions and performances. Communities like Ruang Rupa and those hanging out at the Aksara Record also help shape the city as a cultural capital of the region.

Not only as initiators. Young Jakartans also contribute to shaping Jakarta as a cultural capital by being enthusiastic supporters of the festivals. Among audiences, young Jakartans in their 20s and early 30s are predominant.

They are hip, trendy and have tastes that differ from the mainstream. They belong at least to the middle-income bracket and are mostly university educated, whether at home or abroad.

Without them, these festivals would not exist or thrive. And without these festivals, Jakarta would be just another dirty, overcrowded city.

"As far as I know, Jiffest, for example, was the best in Southeast Asia. Last year, it attracted 63,000 enthusiasts with funding of US$500,000. Meanwhile, the Bangkok Film Festival cost US$5 million and attracted only 23,000 people. And I don't even want to compare Jiffest with festivals in Singapore or Manila; they're not in the same league," said Marco Kusumawijaya, an urban planning expert and chairman of the Jakarta Arts Council.

Marco added that although Jakarta lagged behind Singapore in infrastructural development, the Indonesian city was awash with artists.

He complained, however, that the festivals received little support from the government.

"Actually, the more independent a festival, the better it is. However, the city should see such festivals as investments. They attract visitors who spend money in hotels and restaurants in the city," Marco said. "The city administration should set targets in return for its financial support; a festival gets some funding but has to attract so many people from abroad, for example."

Some festivals in 2007

Festival Time, frequency Organized by

Java Jazz March, annual Private
Q! Film Festival Aug.-Sept. annual Private
Arts Summit Nov. triennial Ministry of Culture
Konfiden Short November, annual Jakarta Arts Council, Konfiden
Jiffest December annual Private supported by city Jakarta International Photo Summit (December, triennial) Private
JakJazz (November, annual) Private
International Literary Biennial (August, biennial) Private
Urbanfest (August, planned to be annual) Private
Jakarta Theater Festival (December, annual) Jakarta Arts Council
Schouwburg Festival (September, annual) City
Jakarta Anniversary Festival (June, annual) City