On October 10, 2019, the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud) awarded the Cultural Award and the Maestro Art of Tradition to 59 figures, communities, and also areas of cultural warriors at the 2019 National Culture Week (PKN) at Istora Senayan Jakarta.

This program which has been implemented since 2012 provides Honorary Degrees for the Bintang class, which is Bintang Mahaputra, Bintang Budaya Parama Dharma, and Cultural Satyalancana class as well as the Cultural and Tradional Maestro Arts Awards consisting of 7 categories Such as conservator; creator, pioneer, and reformer; maestro of traditional arts, children and youth, community; regional government; and foreign individuals.

Each winner of the award is considered by the government to have things that are positive and have a strategic impact on cultural preservation. The positive elements include the protection, development, utilization, figures or figures behind the works he makes, as well as having a strong commitment to the inheritance of cultural values, both tangible and intangible.

Minister of Education and Culture (Mendikbud), Muhadjir Effendy said this appreciation program is one way to internalize cultural values ​​which is expected to build public awareness while increasing the motivation of the younger generation to be more concerned with the development of Indonesian culture.

It is a matter of pride for the Losari Foundation and Bumi Purnati, because Restu Imansari Kusumaningrum (Chair of the Losari Foundation and the Independent Producer and Artistic Director of Bumi Purnati) also received the Maestro of Traditional Art Award for the category of creator, pioneer, and feformer.

Restu Imansari Kusumaningrum

Transforming Traditional Arts Into "Avant-garde" Performing Arts

Restu Imansari Kusumaningrum is: a dance artist, artistic director and independent producer for world-class avant garde artworks. Through the Bali Purnati Foundation, which she founded, Restu realizes her vision of becoming an agent of transformation exploring new thoughts through cultural, intellectual, and artistic collaboration and exchange between Indonesian and foreign artists.

She has produced several shows: "I La Galigo" by Robert Wilson; “Dionysus" by Tadashi Suzuki; "Sakti" gamelan composition Rahayu Supanggah; "Under the Volcano" by Yusril Katil; "Heri Dono" Voyage-Trokomod for the 2015 Venice Biennale; and 2013.

For her various contributions, the government through the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Indonesian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale awarded the 2019 Cultural Winners Award for the category of creator, pioneer, and reformer. Previously, Restu received the Ordine della Stella d'Italia (2014) award from the Italian Government for her role in the competition for cultural and social ties between Italy and Indonesia.

Her latest work "The Journey of Life" -a collaboration of Restu Kusumaningrum (director and art director) and Takada Midori (music arranger) -was performed at the 12th Theater Olympics in Japan in September 2019. In the same year, Restu was invited by the Singapore Arts Festival International 2019 as a speaker for the From Traditional to Contempory session.

Restu has been interested in dance and vocals since the age of five. She grew up in a family that loved the arts. Her grandmother is a batik artist in Magelang, Central Java. As a teenager, Restu studied classical Javanese dance. After completing her basic education, she continued her education in Landscape Architecture and Technology, Trisakti University, Jakarta. At the same time, she was accepted as a student at the Department of Dance, Jakarta Arts Institute. Restu continues to study dance in several places in Indonesia and abroad, including the Tirtasari Studio in Peliatan, Ubud-Bali, and ecstatic shamanistics in South Korea. In the theater sector, she studied to Prapto in Solo and Anak Agung Gede Mandra in Bali.

Then she traveled the world performing dances by Robert Wilson, I Gusti Kompyang Raka, Chen Shi Zeng and Guruh Sukarnoputra. For her hard work as a talented artist, she received awards from the Asia Cultural Council and the Asia Cultural Society, which allowed her to live and work in Manhattan, New York, USA. It was during this time that she began to pay attention to opera and serious festivals for the performing arts. She also began to feel the difference between performing arts and entertainment arts, industrial and non-industrial performances (which were perpetuated). Since then her awareness has been raised: what about the fate of Indonesian culture?

This awareness led Restu and several partners to establish an arts center at Bali Purnati Foundation. Her father then bought her a fax machine-at that time there was no internet technology-to help Restu communicate with networks in other countries to start realizing her dream.

At the age of 30, she was able to build the Bali Purnati Foundation on a one hectared land, in Bali. She also found the Taut Seni and the Losari Foundation. Losari Foundation is a conservation foundation and a place to empower batik.

Through the organizations she created, she wants to catch up with Indonesian culture in a world level.

"Bumi Purnati wants to pursue artistic pursuits and network at the world level to produce performances with intangible values," she said.

One of the performances produced by the Bali Purnati Foundation in collaboration with Change Performing Arts is "I La Galigo". A musical-theater performance inspired by sureq Galigo, an epic about the sources of Bugis knowledge from South Sulawesi. For approximately three years (2001-2003) Restu prepared the performance of "I La Galigo". The first thing she did was meet ing traditional elders in Luwug, South Sulawesi—where the Galigo sureq sacred text grew—to seek approval. After getting their approval, she looked for talented dancers and musicians to play the "I La Galigo" show. She then worked with world-class artists, including Robert Wilson who later became a director, Rhoda Graurer who did the text and dramaturgy adaptations, Rahayu Supanggah as composer-music director, producer Elisabetta di Mambro and Franco Laera from Change Performing Arts. He also met with important people, including Galigo's sureq transliterator, Muhammad Salim, as advisors. Restu herself acts as producer and artistic director. The next step brought together 80 artists from South Sulawesi, Bali, Papua, Central Java, Jakarta, the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, and France to practice together in creating the musical-theatrical performance "I La Galigo".

"I La Galigo" premiered in 2004, Esplanade Theatre, Singapore, From the Esplanade, "I La Galigo" performed in New York (USA), then toured for years in famous buildings in Europe from Italy, Holland, Spain, France then returned home and was staged at Fort Rotterdam Makassar in 2011. The latest show "I La Galigo" was played in July 2019 at the Ciputra Artpreneur Building, Jakarta. In 2008, the show won the top prize from the Melbourne Festival. According to Restu, "I La Galigo" as a work of art has lived and will continue to give performances to various parts of the world.

Through Bali Purnati Indonesia, which is promoted to the world, but also art. Restu initiated the Indonesian Pavilion at the Venice Biennalle. It was the first time Indonesia had an official pavilion in the oldest biennale in the world.

Other performances that she produced include Tadashi Suzuki's "Dionysus", "Sakti" a gamelan composition by Rahayu Supanggah, "Under the Vulcano" by Yusril Katil, "Heri Dono" Voyage-Trokomod for the 2015 Venice Biennale. is preparing the next performance work related to maritime in the archipelago. She is currently conducting discussions with researchers to trace the ship's journey from Samudera Pasai. "I'm still looking for the form, whether it's about the journey of spices or the journey of spreading Islam, but I want to raise more of the maritime," she explained with her sparkling eyes.         

The strength of Restu's performances is her creativity that departs from tradition, then she revives it in a form that can be accepted by society today and in the future.

"Whether it is called the avant-garde or contemporary, please, the audience have to rights to judge," she said.

The spirit appeared, according to her, because hse was born in a family that fights for Indonesia. She wanted Indonesia to become a civilized nation and develop a high value of the culture. According to her, Indonesian tradition is a great source for the world's contemporary theatre. In the performance of "I La Galligo" the music is arranged by Rahayu Supanggah who cultivates the richness of Indonesian music. Meanwhile, the "Dionysus" costume was designed by a young Indonesian designer, Auguste Soesastro, using Indonesian silk materials. In every performance, discussions are always preceded by how Indonesia's multicultural traditions can contribute to contemporary theatre.

“Hopefully, this award could continue for people who have given time, creativity, especially in the world of art that has no visible value, which is useful for the wider community and not for personal gain," she said regarding the Cultural Award for the category of creator, pioneer, and the reformer she has received.

(2019 Cultural Award Catalog/Recipient Profile/Kemdikbud)