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Jakarta Post

Tabeta: For the love of words & imagination

“[The name] stands for Cerita Bhinneka Kita, meaning ‘our diverse stories’. We are hoping to generate stories based on our local wisdom.” 
 

Rizal Iwan (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Wed, May 2, 2018

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Tabeta: For the love of words & imagination Hear me out: One of the refugee kids in the workshop presents his story. (JP/Rizal Iwan)

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space at the Taman Ismail Marzuki in Central Jakarta encourages young Indonesians to rediscover and celebrate their culture through the magic of creative writing.

It was an unusual sight to see in Taman Ismail Marzuki’s Teater Kecil. The space was teeming with over 100 students working in small groups, sitting on a floor strewn with pieces of paper, coloring pencils and pens. 

Some kids were drawing some writing and some were involved in heated discussions. They all shared one objective; to create their own take on the Balinese folktale of Cilinaya. 

On stage, a lady with a microphone was telling them not to limit their imagination. 

“Princess Cilinaya can even end up in space, if you want,” she said. 

The event was a creative writing workshop organized by the TABETA Creative Space as part of the International Children’s Festival last year — and the lady on stage was Beta Perwata, the founder of TABETA. 

Beta, whose mother is a writer and grandmother was a school principal, has always been fascinated by stories and creativity. 

Despite a background in graphic design, she started her career as a copywriter telling stories through advertising campaigns. It is an industry that Beta, who studied graphic design in Australia, has loved for over 20 years and that has taken her to Singapore and India.

Being away from Indonesia did not make Beta forget her roots. Instead, it has drawn her closer to Indonesian culture. During her stint as a regional creative director in Mumbai, she realized how little she knew about her own country — how rich and diverse it is. 

“I fell more and more in love with Indonesian culture,” she recalled. 

An idea began to form in her head to combine this fascination and her passion for storytelling and share it with other people, especially the younger generation. But it was not until she took some time off from advertising in 2015 that the opportunity to bring her vision to life presented itself.

Our stories: Beta with workshop participants at the School Literacy Festival 2017, which was hosted by the Education and Culture Ministry.
Our stories: Beta with workshop participants at the School Literacy Festival 2017, which was hosted by the Education and Culture Ministry. (TABETA Creative Space/File)

Thus, TABETA Creative Space was born. 

“TABETA is a space to explore our inquisitiveness and develop children’s cognitive growth through creative writing,” Beta explained. 

“[The name] stands for Cerita Bhinneka Kita, meaning ‘our diverse stories’. We are hoping to generate stories based on our local wisdom.” 

TABETA began as a personal project. A friend who runs a children’s library told her that many parents complained about their children’s lack of interest in writing and suggested she give a creative writing class in the library. 

So, in September 2016, TABETA held its first workshop at the Rimba Baca library, which was promoted through its Instagram account @tabeta_kreatif. It was an intimate writing workshop for children aged 7 to 12. They were guided on how to develop story elements by creating characters through finger paintings. It is a method to stimulate participants visually and let their imaginations run free with the question: “What if?”

“What if a banana could walk? What if Dewi Sri lived in space?” said Beta, giving examples. 

“Stories with surreal twists fascinate me. It’s a powerful method when done right.”

The success of this pilot project led to a series of small workshops with various themes and participants — including a writing workshop for refugee children, which Beta found a moving experience. 

“Writing helps them find and express their voice,” she said. “Many of them set the stories in their hometown, a little piece of the life they left behind that they still hold dearly.” 

TABETA started to focus more on the diversity of local cultures, because Beta is concerned that young people see anything traditional as uncool and outdated, and many are not even familiar with their own culture. 

“We need an accessible medium for people to learn about their own and other people’s cultures,” she said. 

Guidance: Beta guides refugee kids to create stories using visual stimulations.
Guidance: Beta guides refugee kids to create stories using visual stimulations. (JP/Rizal Iwan)

TABETA then developed workshops around the theme Cerita Nusantara Kaya (Rich Stories of the Archipelago). 

“We pick elements from our local cultures and create stories by giving modern or fictional twists,” she explained. 

This aims to raise awareness and discussions around the cultural elements in question. Beta also hopes that the stories generated through the workshops can connect people, promote empathy and contribute to building a stronger narrative in respecting our own diversity.

TABETA’s programs began reaching more people, as Beta networked and formed partnerships with government agencies. 

In September last year, it was invited by the Education Service of Deli Serdang to speak to teachers and conduct a workshop for 30 elementary school students. Then, TABETA participated in the International Children’s Festival in Jakarta, giving a workshop to 120 junior high and high school students. 

Beta is also part of the think tank for a national literacy festival for vocational schools, a program run by the Education and Culture Ministry. 

Beta finds each project personally rewarding, especially when parents tell her how much they have learned about their kids from the workshops, and how the kids continue to create stories even after they get home. 

“For me, this indicates that my method works in intriguing children to observe their surroundings and keeping their creative spark alive,” she said. 

Currently, TABETA is working with a team of educators and psychologists to sharpen up the module for future projects as it plans to go nationwide and even beyond. Collaboration with schools is in the works and an ASEAN-level writing competition is in the pipeline. 

In the long run, Beta hopes that TABETA grows into a creative exploration space for more than writing classes. She also dreams of collaborating with other creative practitioners to translate written stories into different creative media, such as a dance composition, a play, a song, or a film. 

“A Cerita Bhinneka Kita Festival would be nice,” she muses.

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