Media release
6 March 2008
IN2OZ an Open Invitation to Enjoy Australian Creativity
I am delighted to announce today IN2OZ, a major Australian cultural diplomacy program in Indonesia in 2008.
Through this arts and culture program, Indonesians will come to appreciate the creativity that is at the heart of Australia’s world-class science and technology industries and education sector.
The arts are an ideal way to gain an insight into another society. IN2OZ will demonstrate the diversity, dynamism and tolerance of Australia in exciting and fresh ways.
The IN2OZ program will allow Indonesians to enjoy the unique sounds of top Australian musicians at the Jakarta International JavaJazz Festival in March or make their own music at Strike-A-Chord in December, the travelling science education exhibition where they will be able to conduct a virtual orchestra.
They will also be able to experience some riveting skateboard and BMX action mid-year in the phenomenal new media art exhibition, Streetworks, and be inspired by new Australian writing at October’s annual Ubud Writers & Readers Festival.
A special feature of IN2OZ will be new programs aimed at preserving rare and precious Indonesian museum collections. Senior staff from the Presidential Palace Museum in Jakarta, Bogor and Cipanas will undertake a museum management training program at the University of Sydney from July. Hands-on disaster preparedness training for Yogyakarta’s Heritage Collections and Museums will be held in conjunction with the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in December.
This close cooperation at a cultural level is just one of the practical ways in which Australia and Indonesia are working together as close neighbours should. These people-to-people links, along with extensive regular contact between students and teachers, tourists, business and sports people from both countries, are the great enduring strength of the bilateral relationship.
Indonesia and Australia continue to have a healthy economic relationship with two-way trade reaching $10.4 billion (2006-07) and two-way investment worth around $3.5 billion (2007). In 2007-08, Australian aid to Indonesia is worth $458 million, making Indonesia the largest recipient of Australian development assistance.
IN2OZ, presented by the Australian Government through the Australia International Cultural Council, is yet another, exciting way in which the relationship between Australia and Indonesia continues to grow and be enriched. Full details of the IN2OZ program are available at http://www.dfat.gov.au/in2oz.
I hope our friends in Indonesia will enjoy these cultural performances and exchanges through 2008.
Media inquiries
- Mr Smith's office 02 6277 7500
- Departmental Media Liaison 02 6261 1555