The Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf) plans to organize the 2018 Bekraf Festival in the East Java capital of Surabaya on Nov. 15 to 17, the second edition of the annual event to promote creative economy, after the first event’s success in Bandung, West Java, which attracted 33,900 visitors.

“The Bekraf Festival is expected to raise awareness on the potential of the creative economy,” said Bekraf head Triawan Munaf in a press conference in Jakarta on Monday, adding that the event would also showcase the agency’s activities.  

He said during the festival, Bekraf would present 45 programs that had been implemented in discussions, workshops, performances and exhibitions.  

Surabaya was appointed to host the event for its contributions to the creative economy, Triawan said.

He said a survey conducted by Statistics Indonesia in 2016 showed that Surabaya had the largest number of creative economy businesses, 6.41 percent of the total business in the country, while based on the result of mapping in 99 cities, Surabaya was at the top list of cities with a growing creative economy. 

“With the implementation of the Bekraf Festival in Surabaya, we hope people become more aware and concerned about the development of the creative economy in their regions. We hope it will also have a positive impact on the development of the creative economy in the country,” he added. (bbn)