February 12, 2009 

PAU HANA International Workshop of Art Performance

Bahasa Indonesia

Jakarta, February 12 – As many as 103 students from 14 junior high schools (SMP) in Bantul District attended an art workshop for three weeks (beginning January 26, 2009) together with four professional artists from the United States. The workshop is part of the UCLA - Indonesia Arts Education Residency Fellowship Program in Yogyakarta that provides space and opportunity for the four artists to build cultural interactions through art activities with local artisans and art educational institutions in Yogyakarta. The inter-cultural art program has been prepared since mid-2008 by the UCLA Center of Intercultural Performance (CIP) of UCLA’s School of Arts and Architecture and the Department of World Arts and Cultures (USA). The four artists are Dr. Craig D. Woodson, an ethnomusicologist, educator, and music consultant who specializes in musical instrument production using easy to find, simple tools; Shoji Kameda, a Taiko musician (Japanese drum) who established On Ensemble music group in the United States; Vijayalakshmi Prakash (Viji Prakash) dancer, an Indian Bharatanatyam classic dance teacher and Director of the Shakti Dance Company; and Keali’i Ceballos, a dancer and Hawaiian dance teacher and Director of Halau Keali’i O Nalani dance group. 

The program focuses on art education with emphasis on global understanding of the cultural development process through direct dialog and art activities. According to Prof. Judy Mitoma (CIP Director), who came to Yogyakarta for the program, CIP develops art education, artists’ residency, art festivals, and international exchanges in art. CIP believes that the interaction process through art will increase understanding on intercultural, peace, and universal responsibility. CIP is an institution that actively encourages art activities in response to global realities (change) that occur in our environment and in life (people and culture). CIP programs focuses on efforts to help people to become future leaders and visionary activists.  The program also aims to strengthen their capabilities in conducting intercultural art and interdisciplinary activities. 

Art Workshops

The art workshops for junior high school students that are conducted continuously after school hours to offer opportunities to learn about the types of art that become the workshop subject matters. Besides offering hands-on experience with art and artists engaged in art, students are also invited to learn the process of inter-national cultural (tradition) development. The four American artists are art performers who preserve and boost the value and importance of traditional culture, in the context of the development of cultural and global interaction (modern community) in the U.S. 

Our claim that we are civilized human beings, who have a strong energy of expression in body and soul, serves as the basis for understanding the process of development and communication (interaction) between human beings through verbal language (sound) and body language, as performed in the Viji Prakash’s Bharatanatyam dance that became his subject in the workshop. Meanwhile, Keali’i Ceballos, who accentuated the importance of interconnection and interrelations between human beings and nature in Hawaiian dance, showed a social (communal) expression that encroached on a human’s life. In the music workshop, Dr. Craig D. Woodson encouraged the students to develop a deeper understanding of the importance of music for every human being, through the creation of all instruments that will be played and performed (for a concert). This was also explored in a workshop on Taiko music by Shoji Kameda. Taiko music and instrument was attractively and interestingly performed to capture the students’ understanding, despite the fact that students didn’t use original Taiko as it exists in the Japanese culture. 

‘PAU HANA’ Art Performance

The whole results and achievements of the workshop will be showcased in an art performance called “PAU HANA” (Hawaiian language). Pau Hana means “finished work” that produces results to be celebrated together, in which people share with each other and build up unity. Pau Hana art performance is an opportunity to showcase one’s potential and capabilities in order to promote unity that will boost creative spirit and energy. It generates actions and appreciations to develop intercultural values that reinforce the relevance and understanding of art and cultural tradition among different generations. The performance is a realization of oneself in the form of self-expression that deserves appreciation. The Pau Hana performance will be held in public on Friday, February 13, 2009 at 2:30pm in the hall of SMK 1 Kasihan Bantul (SMKI Yogyakarta) on Jalan Madukismo, Bugisan, Kasihan Subdistrict, Bantul Regency. 

The students’ response and high enthusiasm, as well as the school’s openness and support for this art workshop, shows the potential and expectations for developing cultural and traditional values among the young generation.  The consistency and intensity of relations between artists and other members of the society based on common interest will lead to total preparedness for globalization of culture, encourage a change in lifestyle, and promote a better life in the future. 

The UCLA - Indonesia Arts Education Residency Fellowship Program in Yogyakarta is organized by UCLA - CIP in collaboration with the U.S. State Department (Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Cultural Affairs Section), the United States Embassy in Jakarta, the Indonesian Institute of Arts in Yogyakarta, SMK 1 Kasihan in Bantul Regency (SMKI Yogyakarta), Pamulangan Beksa Sasminta Mardawa Foundation, and the Bagong Kussudiardja Foundation (YBK).

For more information, please contact Jeannie Park, Program Executive Coordinator in Yogyakarta (jpark@indo.net.id) at 08164222679.  For further information about U.S. Embassy Jakarta activities, please visit our website at http://jakarta.usembassy.gov

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