The 32hc Bali Arts Festival (BAF) 2010 will last a month beginning from June 12 until July 10. Nine foreign arts troupes coming from seven countries (Japan, America, Canada, India, Korea, Sweden and Belgium) are likely to
appear on the annual arts event. In addition to art performances, those foreign arts troupes will also participate in the parade and the opening parade of the festival.
In addition to foreign arts troupes, there will be 20 arts troupes from outside Bali such as from Lingga Regency—Riau Islands, Malang, East Java, West Kalimantan, Gorontalo, Tanjung Pinang—Riau Islands, West Jakarta, Central Java, West Sulawesi, Maluku, Tangerang, Bekasi, Banten, Central Lombok , Balikpapan and Yogyakarta. Besides, this year’s BAF also features 72 types
of culinary festival and variety of art crafts.
Chairman of the BAF Organizing Committee, Ida Bagus Sedhawa, accompanied by the Head of Bali Government Tourism Office, lB Subhiksu and Vice Chairman I of Bali Cultural Advisory Council (Listibiya), Rai Handayana, in the presence of print and electronic journalists in the Office of Bali Cultural Services, last Monday (June 1), said the festival would display 334 types of activity, increasing if compared to the event of last year only amounting to 240 events. They consisted of 166 performances, 99 parades and 72 competitions.
The 32 BAF would be officially opened by the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Saturday (Jun 12) at around 8:00 pm Local Time at Bali Art Center, Denpasar. Opening procession of the BAF would be graced by the presentation of colossal ballet performance entitled Anggada Envoy of Bali Provincial troupe under direction of the Indonesian Institute of Arts (ISI) Denpasar.
BAF of this year has central theme namely Sudamala: Comprehending Purity of Conscience. Meanwhile, the parade of BAF takes the theme Bhuana Kerthi: Sanctification of Universe, theme of performance—Stuti Mana Wibawa:
Sincere Presentation, theme of competition—Paras Paros Upasraya: Vying for togetherness, theme of seminar— Dharmatula Subhaprawerti: Considering a wise measure, and theme of exhibition—Silvahita Karana: Skills as source of blessing. “The theme of BAF’s parade namely universe purification is very closely associated with the program of provincial government known as Bali clean and green,” he said.
The image of BAF as a trade fair will be minimized by disciplining the hawkers in the area of Art Center. If in the BAF of previous year hawkers were allowed to do selling in the area of Art Center, this year they will not be allowed again to earn a livelihood there. Meanwhile, the budget allocated for this BAF reaches about IDR 5 billion, an increase from the previous year amounting to IDR 4.5 billion.
