• Bali Arts Festival 2015

  Annual Celebration of Arts and Culture in Bali

  The Bali Arts Festival is a cultural treat for lucky visitors who are in Bali until mid July. The festival traditionally starts on the second Saturday of June and runs through the month of July. It is the perfect moment to witness Bali’s wealth of performing arts together with various cultural highlights from other islands in Indonesia. As one of the main highlights in Bali’s calendar of events, the annual celebration features various artworks and cultural achievements, inviting locals and international visitors to the Taman Werdhi Budaya Arts Centre in Denpasar where most of the daily exhibitions and art performances are focused.
  On regular days, a visit to the Denpasar Art Centre is a small tour to admire magnificent sculptures and Balinese architectural features as well as a venue of choice for photo shoots with exotic backdrops. But throughout the Bali Arts Festival in June and July, the complex becomes alive with colourful traditional bamboo and coconut leaf decorations and banners. Crowds gather in front of its open stages, auditoriums and outdoor pavilions to witness a variety of traditional and contemporary dances, shadow puppetry, music compositions and youth competitions that fill the festival agenda. Hundreds of artisans from the Denpasar municipality, Bali’s eight provinces, other neighbouring islands and even art troupes from abroad participate and showcase their talents. Now in its 37th year, the Bali Arts Festival returns June 13 to July 11, 2015, and takes on the theme "Jagadhita: Strengthening Public Welfare".
  
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  Following the June 13 weekend kick-off this year, with lavish parades around the Bajra Sandhi monument in Denpasar, witness a series of stage performances by art groups from the subdistricts in the Bangli, Gianyar and Karangasem regencies at the Angsoka, Ratna Kanda and Ksirarnawa stages of the Arts Centre in Denpasar. The Ardha Candra main open stage features a female Gong Kebyar performance, brought to you by the Mekar Sari Balerung art community of the Peliatan village in Ubud. The following days up to Saturday, July 11, 2015, these stages feature a wide and colourful variety of performances from different art groups from all over the island and Indonesia for the Bali Arts Festival, offering a lively celebration of arts and culture for all to see.
  
  

  Through July 11, the weeks are filled with traditional music shows and gamelan recitals at the Ayodya and Angsoka stage, and even evening Balinese documentary film screenings at the Ksirarnawa auditorium. Balinese children’s Gong Kebyar gamelan jam sessions at the Ardha Candra open-air amphitheatre are also a unique show, with vocal, musical and dance collaborations presented by gong troupes from Denpasar and the Tabanan regency. Besides the live performances, the yearly event also features handicraft, painting and sculpture exhibitions, together with a traditional culinary festival that presents favourite Balinese dishes. The Bali Arts Festival closes with a lively ceremony comprising an evening traditional ballet known as ‘sendratari’ held at the Ardha Candra open stage from 20:00.
  
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    balinese life and culture