LJC News - PERSAMI* PARADANCE: gender equality bootcamp for young performing artists

This project is part of the IETM Local Journeys for Change activity which is supported by the European Union as part of IETM Network Grant 2022-2024 NIPA: the New International in the Performing Arts.

*Persami: Saturday to Sunday camp.

Persami, project of Paradance, is a gathering camp filled with structured workshop/training, previously held in 2018.

This year, Persami is happening again under the theme “Comprehending Gender Equality”, as a joint discussion to reflect on the performing arts’ condition in Indonesia and, more importantly, on the personal daily life of artists. The camp will enable to observe and explore possibilities for artists to put into practice gender equality values into their arts.

Persami of Paradance will be held on Saturday 5 November and Sunday 6 November 2022 in Wisma Kampoeng Media, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The call for applications is open to Indonesian performing artists till 21 October 2022 via https://bit.ly/paradancecamp.

A maximum of 14 participants will be selected from all the applicants, as this number is considered ideal for the facilitator to discuss the issue in depth.

Paradance Platform has been working in the Indonesian performing arts sector for 8 long years. It mainly operates in the dance field, creating a bond with surrounding artists, hence giving voices to the stories of the vulnerability in art circle. The very hierarchical system in the Indonesian performing arts education, as well as the centralisation of resources to a handful of individuals, have created strong power imbalances in the arts work environment. Many dancers reported that the majority of the arts work opportunities had to go through those holding power positions. The artists are then the most vulnerable players in this setting, leading to cases of sexual violence in universities and in the work circle of performing artist. In the other hand, some female performer artists stop their career after marriage, some due to their pure personal decision, but mostly due to the request of their husband and the surrounding people as an impact of the social constructed believes.

How is this situation still ongoing in the Indonesian surrounding? And how could we cut off such situation? Can it be through methods streaming directly from performing artists, such as through their art practices?

These questions will base the discussions in the Persami workshop.

Persami collaborates with facilitators affiliated with community or organisation committed to develop support systems for the coming programs, which objective is to create a safer arts ecosystem in Indonesia.

Facilitators:

1. Indiah Wahyu Andari, born and living in Yogyakarta, skilled in survivor counseling, establishing service mechanism, policy composing for the cases of gender base violence against women and children. Currently active in the Rifka Anissa Women Crisis Centre as Manager of Assistance Division, managing psychological counselling service, consultation and law assistance, psycho-social assistance, shelter service and counselling service networking. Indiah also provides counselling service for male perpetrator of violence as integrated part of the service for survivor of violence assistance.
   
    
2. Fitri Indra Harjanti is a gender and feminism specialist skilled in planning and managing training, monitoring, evaluation, and learning, knowledge management, advocacy, content creator, and community facilitating and organizing. Fitri has been working in gender and feminism field for more than 10 years and actively involved in various program, as well as training & monitoring and evaluation, collaborating with ministries, national and local government, UN agencies, CSOs, NGOs, workers unions, communities. She also has a lot of experiences in developing training’s materials and methods, writing modules and books, as well as documenting GVB cases and analyzing them, and also writing stories of change. Recently, she worked as Gender Justice Program Coordinator in Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA) Indonesia, and as consultant for several organisations.
   
    
3. Didik Adi Sukmoko, also known as Ahmad Jalidu, is based in Yogyakarta. He is an actor, playwriter, theatre director and also a singer/songwriter. His works in the field of theatre can be recognised be the style of light musicals and simple staging. His latest theatre works are Ngono ya Ngono: Rekonstruksi Balada Si Eni (GMT Jogjadrama, 2022), Bregada Rempah Handayani (Loka Art Production, 2020) and Till There Was You (Dinar Roos and PSBK, 2020). Jalidu worked with the Museum Hujan and also Rannisakustik and Friends, a group of musicians who committed to write and produce songs to promote gender equality and anti-violence campaigns. He is also the co-initiator of Paradance Platform with Nia Agustina (whom he married in 2016) and gelaran.id, a website for Indonesian performance critics. Started in 2012, he runs an indie book publishing, named Garudhawaca, and he committed to save some amount of his small business to support those platforms.
   
    

Text: Agustin Pandhuniawati Heryani

Translation: Fitri Indra Harjanti (edited by IETM)