2nd solo culture workshop

Reinvigorate Culture for Future City Development

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Opening Session of the 2 Solo Culture Workshop by Budi Yulistianto, Secretary of Surakarta City Government, together with Secretary General of UCLG ASPAC and speakers.

“Solo Culture Workshop 2017 has three strategic elements: Introducing the heritage sites of Surakarta; Reinvigorating the batik industry, creative industry and economy; and Promoting Surakarta as a tourist destination”.

Budi Yulistianto, Secretary of Surakarta City Government, on behalf of the Mayor, opened the 2nd Solo Culture Workshop, with the full title “Cultural Strategy Development Peer-Learning Workshop and Public Forum.” This workshop aimed at giving recommendations to Surakarta, obtained both from resource cities in Asia-Pacific region and from officials and key stakeholders of Solo, to synchronize the vision and mission of the City with five-year-Surakarta City Plan.

The recommendations were presented by Secretary General of UCLG ASPAC during the closing of the two-day forum. Conducted from November 22 to 23, 2017, Solo Culture Workshop was attended by international speakers from Asian cities that have rich experience in leveraging culture for development. These are City Council of Penang

Island - Georgetown, Beijing Municipal Government, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province, Malacca City, Department of Cultural Promotions, Thailand and Baguio City, Philippines; also city officers from nearby such as Probolinggo, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Aceh, Jambi, and Pangkal Pinang etc.

Activity on the first day included visits to many heritage sites, which included UCLG ASPAC's public space projects – the Wayang Orang Sriwedari theatre. Speakers and participants traveled using an old century steam locomotive to see the city of Surakarta and learn more about Keris and Batik as traditional culture that still exists until today.

They also learned literacy and artifacts on ancient Javanese culture in Museum Radya Pusaka. In the evening, they enjoyed a show at the Wayang Orang Sriwedari. One of Solo City’s officers from the finance and assets division admitted that she herself has not yet seen the traditional performance and was excited to see it for the first time.

In the workshop venue, which was once a batik factory and display area, speakers and participants discussed recommendations for Surakarta. They drafted an action plan to promote active involvement of young people and community in addressing cultural issues, including heritage sites, culture education, culture policy, culture community and culture environment.

On the second day, many local participants composed of officials, university students and artists joined the event. The keynote speaker, Wasi Bantolo, who also lectures at the Surakarta Arts Institute highlighted another point of view of heritage and culture in Surakarta. One of interesting examples he gave was in how birth names reflect tradition and also the changes in modern times.

Merging city vision and recommendations Surakarta has many type heritage sites from Sultan Palace, Fort Vastenburg, temple, museum, steam train station to Gedung Wayang Orang Sriwedari. Moreover, Surakarta Tourism Division already develops a calendar of events which also feature ethnic batik fabric, traditional handicraft, souvenir, accessories, batik coloring, tourism, and investment.

“The dream is to increase the volume of tourists and increase the marketing value of local products. We also want to expand the marketing network between

Indonesia and overseas countries,” said Toufan Basuki, Head of Division Public Works of Surakarta City.

Meanwhile, the recommendations for Surakarta emphasized that local needs and the local or domestic market should be satisfied first, and from this, the city’s larger aspirations linked to cultural tourism would be fulfilled. The recommendations noted that Solo’s placing of culture at the core of its city development is praiseworthy and suggested areas and actions where it could improve on. For example, to conduct mapping of its cultural resources and assets, to digitize promotions and strengthen its branding, and to harness people’s potential especially young talents. The report also addressed some risks the city should strive to minimize.

Overall, these inputs to Solo’s strategy in investing in culture and empowering the role of local communities should encourage the city to pursue mainstreaming culture in local development, by helping the city to closely examine and identify the key issues, strengths, and opportunities.