KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 29 — The coalition of local art practitioners ReformARTsi is calling the prime minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the government to reform the arts and culture sector.
This includes enacting a 15-year national arts and culture blueprint alongside forming a dedicated ministry for arts, culture and creative economy.
This comes in after ReformARTsi, which consists of 180 arts practitioners from 65 companies, launched an online petition on September 26, calling for the government to fulfil their five demands which includes:
Forming a task force consisting of majority practitioners with representatives from civil society and government, to formulate and enact a 15-year National Arts and Culture Blueprint.
Improving arts education in all public schools.
Upholding the fundamental rights of artists and culture workers including social, economic and artistic rights.
Allocating at least 0.1 per cent of Malaysia’s annual budget to arts and culture.
Forming a ministry dedicated to Arts, Culture and Creative Economy.
“We believe that everyone in Malaysia deserves to participate freely in a vibrant artistic and cultural life.
“That means addressing issues like inadequate arts education, restrictions on artistic expression, fragmented governance, and lack of financing in the arts and culture sector.
“Please join us in building a movement to strengthen Malaysia’s arts and culture,” ReformARTsi wrote in one of their Instagram posts.
Among the main reason behind ReformARTsi's call to establish a dedicated ministry was due to the fragmented state of the local arts and culture sector which often treated as an afterthought when combined with other ministries.
This is also because the arts and culture sector never really had a dedicated ministry they could call home before this.
Meanwhile, the absence of any long-term plan and mechanism for the arts and culture sector is the main reason for them wanting to form an all-inclusive taskforce that could formulate a specific blueprint to strategically develop the sector instead of just having short term policies.
At the time of writing, the petition has garnered around 1,189 signatures so far and it was also supported by local artists such as Sharifah Amani, Tiara Jacquelina, Monoloque and Ameerul Affendi.
