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MULTIPLE IDENTITIES VIA THE GLOBALIZATION OF ART, MEDIA AND PERFORMANCE 135palace-sponsored Mangkunegaran Performing Artsfestival.Mangkunegaran’s successful combination seems to be:Within the institution, or internally, it maintains apride in tradition and an emphasis on high standards.Externally, it is open to outsiders, eager to teach peoplefrom many backgrounds, and willing to experiment.Samwan Tiga Hindu TempleSamwan Tiga is an ancient Hindu temple in the villageof Bedulu, near Ubud in central Bali. Now a lesserknownlocal site, in the 10 th century it was the statetemple of the main kingdom of Bali.Once a year, people from around 12 villages in thevicinity gather for a huge festival. Groups parade fromall directions to the temple. Lines of women carry tallofferings of fruit and flowers on their heads, bands ofmusicians play cymbals and drums, and men carrypalanquins with the images of various deities,including Hindu gods such as Shiva and Brahma,Buddhist deities and local spirits. Among the latter arethe barong (guardian spirits) which can be in theshapes of lions, dragons, or even people, such as theblack images of a 10 th century Balinese king and hisChinese wife, revered as lords of black magic.Men dressed in white run in circles through the templecomplex, whipping each other with sacred leaves, aselderly women follow them while dancing a veryarchaic style of Balinese dance. Everywhere there areelaborate flower arrangements and fruit offerings. Thethousands of participants are dressed in their bestsarongs made from Balinese and Javanese textiles.Bali is unusual in Indonesia because it resisted theIslamic wave in the 15 th century and continues to thisday to be a Hindu island. In the 20th century it usedtourism to support and internationalize its arts, so thattoday Balinese dance is perhaps the best-knownIndonesian dance worldwide. However, the festival atSamwan Tiga is interesting because it is based entirelyon religious faith, and not on tourism (most touristsdon’t even know about it). Importantly, it shows thatmaintaining a culture is not so difficult; you don’t needsupport from the government or help from outsideorganizations. Simple faith can preserve culturaltraditions. This can be done without modification tofit into modern society or globalization.“In The Arts Island 2011”Regional arts festivals are a powerful engine for theglobalization of performing arts in Asia. Unlike manyother dance events, they are not “tourist shows” withlocals dressed up in picturesque costumes dancingtraditional showpieces. They focus on creative artists,and try to facilitate cultural exchange betweendifferent countries. Arts festivals are venues forpremieres of cutting-edge work by creative artists. Atarts festivals many students get their first taste of theoutside world. Some festivals tour regional towns andvillages, so that even villagers are exposed. Meanwhile,the festivals provide visiting artists with a chance tolearn about local traditions.One of the smaller, but most exciting, Indonesian artsfestivals is “In The Arts Island 2011,” founded bydirector Agung Gunawan from Yogyakarta. I joinedthis festival in July 2011 in its second year. Theconcept is to foster cooperation betweencontemporary dance artists from overseas and artistsand artistic traditions of local areas in Indonesia. Thefestival moves around, presenting the same work indifferent places.In 2011 the festival started in Bali and moved to fourlocations in East Java between 12-20 July. Participantartists came from Australia (Yumi Umiumare, TonyYap, Ida Lawrence); Malaysia (Kuan Nam); Thailand(Ronnarong Khampha), and Indonesia (AgungGunawan, Iwan Darmawan, Memet Chairul Slamet,Gita Purnama Kinanthi, I Nyoman Sura, BagusBudiindarto and Agus Riyanto).One interesting event was held on 19 July at PundenMbah Agung/Pujon Malang in East Java. The festivalstarted with the parade of the bantengang dance (bulltrance dance) in which everyone, including manydance troupes, paraded from village to village fromnoon until midnight, ending at the tomb of thefounder of the first village. Then the action shifted tocontemporary work from Thailand, Australia,Malaysia and Indonesia, finishing with improviseddance by local artists, villagers and overseas artists. Theevent continued on into the night with the bull trancedance.“In The Arts Island 2011” is a good example of alinking between contemporary artists from overseasand traditions of a particular area in Indonesia.The Work of the 2010/2011 API Fellows