By: Linda Hoemar Abidin, Member of the Supervisory Board Filantropi Indonesia & Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Arts Coalition

Art has been proven to have a positive impact on society. Various arts initiatives in the archipelago encourage freedom of expression and social inclusion because they provide space for dialogue and reflection on the environment. Art helps heal trauma, is an important part of movements against injustice, and gives a voice to the marginalized. During the pandemic, art plays a major role in strengthening society’s resilience in facing crises; and maintaining your sanity while everyone is at home.

Unfortunately, not many people donate to the arts or become arts philanthropists. A household survey in eleven cities conducted by the Public Interest Research and Advocacy Center (PIRAC) in 2007 found that only 3 percent of respondents donated to the arts. Furthermore, Indonesia Philanthropy Outlook data released by Filantropi Indonesia in 2022 shows that art is only ranked 12th out of 18 sectors of interest to philanthropic institutions in Indonesia.

Formal efforts to attract philanthropists to support the arts need to be increased. In 2017, the Creative Economy Agency together with Filantropi Indonesia and the Arts Coalition launched the Arts and Culture Philanthropy Cluster to raise special philanthropic initiatives for the arts and culture sector. Various tax incentive policies also continue to be pushed, such as including the arts as one of the donation sectors that can get a tax reduction in PP Number 93 of 2010. We need to advocate PMK Number 128/PMK.010/2019 which regulates tax incentives for vocational education to include education. vocations related to broader arts and culture, including performing arts, film, and literature.

The opportunity to engage philanthropists to participate in advancing culture has been wide open since the launch of the Dana Indonesiana program in 2022. The management of the Dana Indonesiana program, with its main source being the cultural endowment fund, is designed to open the widest possible access to artists’ initiatives by upholding the principles of transparency and accountability. The grant management method is to foster various examples of good practice. This requires serious collaboration between arts practitioners and the government. The success of this program facilitated by Dana Indonesiana will inspire and build the confidence of philanthropists that art, an essential object of cultural advancement, is a sector that also needs to be supported.

Imagine a better Indonesia and its people happy. Art can contribute greatly to making that happen. It is believed that exposure to art has the potential to make people more logical, critical, imaginative, innovative, and tolerant. We need to accommodate and elaborate on the positive elements of art in designing the future, generating solutions to various challenges. This is an open invitation for the public and private sector to come together with arts activists and government, bringing to life a fertile field of mutualistic symbiosis. The quality of art needs to continue to be supported so that people become more aware that art is an important part of life.

To begin with, three schemes for the involvement of philanthropists in supporting the Dana Indonesiana program have been considered to more optimally facilitate arts and culture activities. First, philanthropists can contribute directly to the Indonesiana Fund, namely increasing the amount of capital in the cultural endowment fund managed by the government. This is in line with the initial concept of establishing a cultural endowment fund that allows funding sources outside the APBN.

Second, philanthropists can establish independent endowment fund management from the Dana Indonesiana scheme. This option will expand opportunities for arts and culture actors to obtain support. These various independent endowment fund management methods can later give rise to new best practices for developing the management and sustainability of the Indonesiana Fund.

Third, philanthropists can organize a matching fund program to complete the financing needs of Dana Indonesiana beneficiaries. Apart from being able to optimize the implementation of initiatives from Dana Indonesiana beneficiaries, this method also provides freedom for philanthropists to choose appropriate fund recipients according to their preferences. These thoughts need to be elaborated with stakeholders so that they can be realized immediately.

However, some challenges must be considered so that the collaboration between philanthropists and Dana Indonesiana is successful. First, ensuring that the mechanism for selecting beneficiaries as well as the transparency and accountability of the management of the Indonesiana Fund continues to improve and be maintained. This is because concerns about misuse of funds and poor governance are one of the reasons why philanthropists have not been convinced to support the arts sector. The better the public’s perception of the quality of Dana Indonesiana management and the quality of work results in utilizing funds, the more interested philanthropists will be in donating.

Third, the government needs to establish effective communication with philanthropist networks to convey information regarding potential collaboration for the development of the Indonesiana Fund, so that the mission of advancing culture always receives positive consideration from philanthropists. Without this, the arts sector will continue to be marginalized. This is important because art is not the only sector that needs support from philanthropists. Other sectors such as education, health, and poverty alleviation, also continue to compete for priority by philanthropists.

Efforts to advance culture are our collective responsibility, including the younger generation. Contrary to the old paradigm which views arts and culture activities as ‘costs’, the Law on the Advancement of Culture emphasizes that ‘funding for the advancement of culture is based on investment considerations.’, and environmental sustainability for a better and more sustainable life. Together we need to promote and increase philanthropic contributions to the arts and culture sector.

Photo by: Ainun Jamila from Unsplash