Jakarta – After almost 5 years of waiting, the art and cultural workers will soon welcome the realization of the Art Endowment Fund. The government has finally issued Presidential Regulation number 111 of 2021 on Endowment Fund for Education as the legal basis for the long-awaited policy.
However, there’s still work to be done. Koalisi Seni (The Indonesian Arts Coalition) highlighted three major tasks for the policymakers to fully implement the mandates on The Law number 5 of 2017 on Advancement of The Culture.
“First, the government should disseminate the Presidential Regulation to all stakeholders, especially on arts and cultural fields. The objective is to eliminate the spreading of misinformation around the status of the long-anticipated policy on the Art Endowment Fund,” said the Advocacy Manager of Koalisi Seni, Hafez Gumay, on Wednesday, 16 February, 2022.
Second, in order to reach the public faster, the government must arrange further regulation on the distribution mechanisms of the Art Endowment Fund. The regulation must include detailed procedure on planning, budgeting, disbursement, and accountability of the fund.
Moreover, the process of law making should be open for the public, especially for all related stakeholders to ensure all aspirations on the art and cultural issue are accommodated. The process should be contrasted with the making of Presidential Regulation number 111 of 2021 which failed to be accommodating and transparent.
Lastly, in line with President’s Joko Widodo’s commitment, the government must deliver its promise to set the budget of the Art Endowment Fund at Rp 5 trillion. The government has to make sure there is no more discrimination for the cultural sector – as reflected in the 2020 State Budget that only lists Rp 1 trillion for the Cultural Trust Fund (DPK) which is far below Rp 5 trillion for the Research Endowment Fund and the Higher Education Endowment Fund.
“We are entering the new chapter of the Art Endowment Fund. In order to reach the next phase, which is to create a healthier art and culture ecosystem, all relevant stakeholders need to be involved and keep an eye on the policy-making process,” said Hafez.
One of the initial mandates of Koalisi Seni is to push the Arts Endowment Fund as the alternative funding mechanism for the arts ecosystem. This mission is getting more relevant after the research on Continuity of Art Institutions in eight cities in 2016 found that funding is the major challenge for the sustainable art activities.
As the advocacy continues, proposing a draft of the law Advancement of The Culture is the main vehicle to make the Art Endowment Fund come true. Issued in 2017, The Law mandated the government to form the Cultural Trust Fund. To support this advocacy, Koalisi Seni has conducted a series of dialogue with the related stakeholders and strategic actors.
