Promoting Media Arts, Malang City is a Candidate for UNESCO Creative City

Blimbing (malangkota.go.id) - Promoting Media Art, Malang City is one of four regencies/cities in Indonesia with the potential to be included in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. A thorough discussion preceded the choice of Media Art as the superior potential of Malang City.

This Media Art includes several slices of the creative economy subsectors that are a reference for the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy of the Republic of Indonesia (Kemenparekraf RI), such as applications, games, performing arts, fine arts, radio and TV, advertising, video films and animation, and photography. In addition, in 2017 and 2019, Malang City was also awarded the title of Creative City with the best ecosystem by Bekraf and Kemenparekraf with the leading subsector of applications and games. This is an important asset for Malang City to propose itself as a Creative Media Art City for UCCN.

The National Selection Committee (Panselnas) Team for UCCN Nominations, Harry Waluyo, revealed that this visit was an evaluation of whether Malang City met the criteria to represent Indonesia, which later there would only be two selected regions with different themes. The three other regions nominated are Makassar City, which carries gastronomy, Ponorogo Regency, and Tangerang Regency, which carries arts and crafts.

“Malang City has submitted a dossier, and it was also displayed. Now we want to see the suitability in the field. It is possible that there are things that should be included but have not been included, or vice versa. So that it shows the consistency of what is written, and how the field conditions are. Furthermore, UNESCO will undoubtedly take into consideration other factors, such as the connection between local issues and global ones, whether there is a contribution from Malang City in handling this global issue,” said Harry Waluyo after visiting Malang Creative Center (MCC), Thursday (26/9/2024).

Harry also appreciated Malang City's idea of showing a common thread between what was built in the past, current work and efforts, and hopes for the future. “I was taken to Badut Temple, then it was explained that the facade of this building (MCC) took inspiration from the temple,” he said.

Harry revealed that the benefit of being included in UCCN is the open access to international cooperation. “When we are included in the network, we are able to choose who to work with according to our field. Regarding media arts, certainly with countries that align with the theme of media arts. For example, Malang City chose Braga in Portugal or Sapporo - Japan, Gwangju - South Korea,” he explained.

He added that Malang City has the potential to penetrate the global market. “There are many human resources here, supported by a high-quality education. Employment is not restricted solely to Malang, but it has the potential to span across Indonesia and even extend globally. Malang City has great potential, what is important is the insight of the locals in Malang to see which ones can fit the criteria set,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Head of the Regional Development Planning Agency (Bappeda) of Malang City Dwi Rahayu, SH, M.Hum expressed her gratitude for the visit of the National Selection Committee team which allowed them to provide various inputs to improve and enhance the quality of the files that would be submitted for the UCCN.

“There are many numerous input notes that can be incorporated into the file, and we shall proceed accordingly. We will also continue to strengthen collaboration and sincerely hope that Malang City can achieve the top two,” Dwi concluded.

For information, currently Malang City is undergoing field verification of what was presented some time ago. The two-day visitation (September 25-26, 2024) is one of the assessment stages by the National Selection Committee. During this visit, the National Selection Committee team was invited to visit various iconic locations in Malang City.

Starting from Malang City Hall and Kayutangan Heritage on the first day, on the second day the National Selection Committee Team conducted visit to Kampung Warna-warni, Badut Temple, Mpu Purwa Museum, Insan Amanah school, Startup Majoo, and Singhasari SEZ. The visit concluded at Malang Creative Center (MCC) to witness firsthand the diverse creative activities at MCC and simultaneously establish a discussion platform for activists and creative economy activists in Malang City. (ari/yon)