Adelaide Festival Centre Signs Historic Mou with Bekraf

On Thursday 15 December, the Chair of Adelaide Festival Centre Trust, Michael Abbott AO QC and Joshua Puji Mulia Simandjuntak Deputy of Chairman for Marketing at Badan Ekonomi Kreatif Indonesia (BEKRAF) (Indonesia Agency of Creative Economy) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) ensuring continued support for Adelaide Festival Centre and OzAsia Festival for years to come.

After supporting Adelaide Festival Centre's 2016 OzAsia Festival, Adelaide Festival Centre is BEKRAF's first Australian partnership with the MOU signing last week.

An initiative of Indonesian President Joko Widodo, BEKRAF is Indonesia's first agency for creative economy and was set up to consider how creative industries in Indonesia such as the performing arts, film, fashion, digital innovation, architecture and design can further grow as viable economic industries for the country.

Adelaide Festival Centre Trust chair Michael Abbott says: "The historic signing of BEKRAF's first MOU with an Australian partner demonstrates clearly that Adelaide Festival Centre is at the forefront of arts and cultural relations in Indonesia. The Indonesian government values Adelaide Festival Centre's OzAsia Festival as a major arts festival and the important role we play introducing the best of Indonesian arts and culture to audiences in Australia.

"We are very grateful for the ongoing support of BEKRAF. This MOU means that Adelaide Festival Centre can continue to engage with BEKRAF to showcase the best arts and culture from across Indonesia in the future. Contemporary arts programming from Indonesia has been and will continue to be a priority for Adelaide Festival Centre and OzAsia Festival."

Adelaide Festival Centre's OzAsia Festival Artistic Director Joseph Mitchell was in Jakarta to witness the signing: "This MOU provides OzAsia Festival with support to continue to showcase the breadth and diversity of contemporary performance from across Indonesia. It builds on the success Adelaide Festival Centre has already established with key Australian-Indonesian government relations and stakeholders.

"Artists from Indonesia and Australia will benefit from this MOU which will allow us to focus on programming more work and developing greater artistic exchange between the two countries. Some of the great outcomes that have been achieved by this level of partnership and engagement include the success of Cry Jailolo. Since premiering at OzAsia Festival in 2015, Indonesian choreographer Eko Supriyanto's dance work Cry Jailolo will go on to have further Australian presentations at Sydney Festival, Victorian Arts Centre, Supercell in Brisbane and a return season in Adelaide at WOMAD."

Adelaide Festival Centre has established a series of successful relationships with government and cultural agencies in Indonesia including partnerships with Indonesia's Ministry for Tourism and Ministry for Education and Culture, provincial government engagement with West Java, Riau, The Special Region of Yogyakarta and the Regency of West Halmahera. In Australia, DFAT's Australian Indonesian Institute is also a program partner of OzAsia Festival. The MOU with BEKFAF means that leading stakeholders in Australian/Indonesian government relations are engaging in a dialogue around the role of contemporary arts and culture from Indonesia being introduced to Australia.