15 Thousand Artists To Enliven Bali Arts Festival

DENPASAR, Bali, June 6 (Antara) - The Cultural Office of Bali Province has forecast that some 15 thousand artists will enliven the 40th Bali Arts Festival to be held from June 23 to July 21 in Taman Budaya, Denpasar City. "A total of 271 art groups will perform during this year's Bali Arts Festival. Each art group involves an average of 50 artists, so the number of active personnel or artists during the festival is estimated to reach 13 thousand to 15 thousand," Bali Provincial Cultural Office Head Dewa Putu Beratha stated on Wednesday. The festival features mainly pageants, performances, parades and competitions or festival, exhibitions, and workshops. For the festival, districts and cities in Bali Province must prepare 15 parades, 10 competitions, and four performances. The competitions include the teenagers' contest performing wayang (puppet) and sloka, baleganjur, modern bondres, tembang girang, literary, painting, craft, photo, and documentary film. The parades include gong kebyar for adults, children, and women; ngelawang; Balinese folklore; gong drama with modern Balinese literature; puppet with teenage mastermind; traditional joged bumbung; classic panca mask; Balinese folk songs; percussion and classical palegongan dance; gamelan angklung kebyar; gamelan and innovative dance; and classical janger. The four performances include innovative and typical arts, the arts performed by famous players from districts and cities, and various new arts in each district and city. According to Beratha, art participants from outside Bali Province and other countries are welcomed in a bid to create a new ambience, increase insights, and express appreciation of the Balinese towards arts. Outside Bali Province, art performances are from Jakarta, West Java, Bangkalan District, Temanggung District, Blitar City, Batu-Malang City, Yogyakarta, East Kalimantan, Tangerang City, Bima District, Baru District, Gunung Kidul District, and Papua, while foreign participants are from Japan, India, Peru, and China. Bali Arts Festival will also be enlivened by the Panji Festival, which is a form of synergy of the activities of the Ministry of Education and Culture to be held on June 28-29, 2018. Panji Festival will include performances, workshops, and exhibitions. Participants from countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, including Indonesia, will take part in the festival. Apart from Bali, the Panji Festival will be held from June 27 to July 13 in several other provinces, including East Java, Yogyakarta, and Jakarta.