Denpasar opens art workshop

Wed, 10/15/2008 10:38 AM | Bali

DENPASAR: Denpasar municipal administration is striving to maintain its target to be the overall winner of the annual students' art competition in Bali.

To prepare for the next competition in 2009, the city administration held an eight-day art workshop for students from kindergarten, elementary school and junior and senior high school at Shanti Graha building in Denpasar on Tuesday.

Denpasar Mayor Ida Bagus Rai Dharma Wijaya Mantra said at the event the workshop was also intended to help improve creativity, thereby enabling Denpasar to become a city with an artistic ambience.

Across the world, he said, art was used as a means to develop beauty, balance, self-respect and spirituality. But in its development the arts frequently face various obstacles.

"This is because art is exploited negatively so that the communicated art suffers from degradation of morals," he said, urging the Balinese to explore art in line with existing moral norms.

Nyoman Nada, the workshop chairman, said the workshop was intended mainly to prepare students and their instructors as well as possible to take part in next year's competition.