Jakarta, 22 April 2022
-The Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (MoECRT/Kemendikbudristek) of the Republic of Indonesia will chair the G20 Culture Ministers Meeting in September 2022. Commencing of a series of G20 events in the field of culture towards the G20 Culture Ministers Meeting, the Ministry held the 1st G20 Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) on Friday (April 22). This meeting is attended online by delegates from G20 Member States, guest countries, and international organizations.
The G20 series of events in the field of culture raised the theme "Culture for Sustainable Living". In this case, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology reflected on the post-pandemic situation. "The pandemic has exposed the latent vulnerabilities in our modern lifestyle. We are no longer talking about poverty, inequality, injustice, but human survival as a species. To recover together, and recover stronger, we need a new, more sustainable lifestyle," said the Ministry's Director General of Culture, Hilmar Farid.
Hilmar Farid mentioned that there were two main objectives of MoECRT's G20 leadership in the field of culture. First, to build a global consensus for a sustainable new normal; and, second, to initiate a global recovery agenda through the establishment of a network of joint actions in the cultural sector.
Leading the inaugural G20 SOM on culture, Hilmar Farid said that this meeting would focus on discussing the role of culture in promoting sustainable living. "The meeting will explore the possibility of a new normal, namely the transition to a development policy that is more oriented towards social-ecological justice based on the diversity of cultural resources," said Hilmar in a statement in Jakarta, Friday (April 22).
Five Agendas to be Discussed at SOM
Hilmar said that there would be five main issues to be discussed in this meeting. First, the role of culture as a driver of sustainable living. Second, the economic, environmental and social impacts of culture-based policies. Third, cultural commoning (co-management of cultural resources) that promote sustainable lifestyles at the local level.
Fourth, equitable access to cultural economic opportunities. Fifth, the mobilization of international resources to mainstream sustainable recovery by initiating a funding mechanism for the restoration of arts and culture which have been severely hit during the pandemic.
Hilmar explained that culture is playing an important role in promoting this new lifestyle. "The various knowledge, institutions, cultural expressions, and practices that we have inherited have passed the test of time and have therefore been carried over to modern times. If these various cultural resources are consolidated, we will have the means to create a more sustainable lifestyle," said Hilmar.
"This is the cultural path offered by the Indonesia' Presidency at the G20," said Hilmar.
The highlight of the G20 event in the field of Culture is the Culture Ministers Meeting (CMM) staged to be be held in the Borobudur Temple area of Magelang, Central Java province, on September 12 and 13, 2022. During the organisation of this meeting, the MoECRT through the Directorate General of Culture will hold a series of events, including the Cultural Carnival, Giant Meeting, G20 Concert, and Ruwatan Bumi (a traditional ritual of exorcism for the earth).
The Cultural Carnival and the Giant Meeting are planned to be attended by no less than 2,000 cultural actors, indigenous peoples, and cultural communities. Meanwhile, the G20 Concert will involve collaborations of musicians from G20 countries. In addition, a number of events including Ruwatan Nusantara, Student Festival, Indonesia Bertutur (Indonesia Tells a Story), International Conference on Indonesian Culture, and various other events will be held to support the successful organization of G20 in the field of Culture.
