QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY STUDENTS AT UI: RECOGNIZING THE LOCAL CULTURE BY MAKING BATIK TO PLAYING GAMELAN
A total of 40 students of Queensland University, Australia, seemed enthusiastic about playing gamelan, practicing Indonesian traditional dance, and making batik at Makara Art Center (MAC) of Universitas Indonesia. They are participants in the art training that took place on February 6, 2023. In addition to being trained in art training, they were previously given insight into the various arts that would be taught in the workshop.
The coaches for foreign student participants were Jufriandi Usman (dance coach), Nanang Hape (gamelan coach), and Nurul Kartika Sari (batik–making coach). Four other coaches were Bagiyanto, Sukrismini, Etty Kajol, David Fitrik, and Fakih. According to Badrul Munir, the Director of Student Affairs UI, this activity is a medium to introduce UI to the international community through art. “Through such an activity, foreign students will not only understand the art of the archipelago but can also feel the beauty of Indonesian art that they have obtained at UI,” Munir said.
This Indonesian arts workshop is a series of “New Colombo Plan International Exchange Program” activities, which is a student and lecturer visit program from the Faculty of Engineering, Queensland University, to the Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia. Dean of the Faculty of Engineering UI Prof. Dr. Heri Hermansyah, ST., M.Eng., Ipu., explained that the program lasted for two weeks.
In addition to organizing the art workshop, several other activities were held, including visiting industries, attending courses, making short projects, learning Indonesian, and so on.
To explore the art of the archipelago, these foreign students were given the opportunity to perform at the end of the workshop. Ngatawi Al-Zastrouw, the Head of MAC, explained that the best participants would be given the opportunity to perform. Selection to determine who will perform would be carried out by each art trainer.
“In this way, a deep impression will arise among foreign students towards Indonesian art,” said Zastrouw.
