Bali Arts Festival to offer up to 180 performances

As part of his tight campaign schedule, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to open the annual Bali Arts Festival in Denpasar on June 13.

The month-long festival will feature 180 art performances from 12 provinces in Indonesia and eight foreign countries - South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, India, China and Mexico and the United States.

Made Santha, secretary of the festival organizing committee, said Monday the opening of the art festival usually drew thousands of spectators, so the colorful art parade would be relocated from Puputan Badung Square to the Denpasar Art Center, as was the original concept eight years ago.

In the past few years, the opening of the festival took place at Puputan Margarana Square in Renon, Denpasar, which could not accommodate all participants at the festival. This year's budget for the festival is Rp 3.9 billion (US$381,900), which comes from the Bali provincial budget.

For 31 years, the art festival has been Bali's cultural landmark, attracting both local and foreign artists and visitors.