The Directorate of Cultural Development and Utilization, the Ministry of Education and Culture, held a Nusantara Spice Culture Appreciation event at Aston Kartika Grogol, 10-11 December 2020. On the second day, Friday (11/12), they held essential agendas; reports and evaluations of several Technical Implementation Units (UPT) and Regional Governments (Pemda) that ran the Spice Routes programs; and the peak of Nusantara Spice Culture Appreciation, including spice exhibition, awarding the competition winners, and launching the website jalurrempah.kemdikbud.go.id.
The first two agendas, the reports and evaluations of several Technical Implementation Units (UPT) and Regional Governments (Pemda), were held at 08.00 Western Indonesia Time (WIB) in two separate rooms; Grand Rasamala Ballroom and Edelweis 3. In these agendas, the regions presented their programs related to the Spice Routes, such as cultural caravan, webinar, spice appreciation, and spice archive inventory.
The peak event was held in the Grand Rasamala Ballroom at 2 p.m. The event was opened by a traditional dance, singing three stanzas of Indonesia Raya, prayers, and remarks from Dr. Restu Gunawan as the Directorate of Cultural Development and Utilization. After the speech and remarks, the agenda was continued by ‘Ibu Pertiwi’ musical performance using the musical instrument Sasandu.
Following the Sasandu musical performance, a video entitled The Mosaic of the Spice Routes Program 2020 was played. The video showed the government’s works to raise awareness about Spice Routes to the public. In addition, there were also video remarks from the Chairman of the Spice Routes Committee, Ananto Seta, and the Director-General of Culture, Hilmar Farid, who explained the details as to how the Spice Routes became the government’s priority program.
The event then continued with the performance of various traditional dances of Nusantara, from Sumatra to Papua, followed by all of the audience. Then, for the first time, there was a screening of an animated film by Indonesian senior director Garin Nugroho that highlighted the role of cloves and the Spice Routes. The audience gave applause after serenely watching the film.
The winners of the Spice Routes appreciation competition were then awarded certificates and appreciation funds afterward. They came from different media and categories, including comics and visuals. Finally, the Nusantara Spice Culture Appreciation was closed by clanging lumpang as a symbolization as the website was launched to be a platform of the knowledge and information source related to the Spice Routes.
Text: Doni Ahmadi
Translator: Dhiani Probhosiwi
