Jakarta. Bekraf, Indonesia's Creative Economy Agency, will hold the second edition of its Bekraf Festival, an end-of-year exhibition of their programs and achievements, at Grand City Mall in Surabaya, East Java, on Nov. 15-17.

The first Bekraf Festival took place at Bandung Creative Hub and Gudang Persediaan PT KAI in Bandung, West Java, in December last year and was attended by 33,900 visitors.

Bekraf vice chairman Ricky Pesik said at a press conference on Monday (29/10) he expects this year’s event will attract a crowd upward of 50,000 since the venue is located right in the heart of the city.

The festival will share the venue with Startup Nations Summit 2018, a gathering of policy makers from around 70 countries that will take place on Nov. 16-17.

According to Bekraf director of creative economy education Poppy Savitri, the agency has always planned to take the festival to Surabaya since the city has more creative businesses than any other city in Indonesia according to data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) released in 2016.

A formal request from Surabaya mayor Tri "Risma" Rismaharini to get the festival to the city sealed the deal.

"Surabaya has won many awards, so we've always thought it would be great to hold the event there. We didn't know about the Startup Nations Summit until Bu Risma mentioned the venue. That's an international event and there will be a lot of visitors who might also check us out," Poppy said.

The Bekraf Festival will showcase 45 competitions and programs hosted by the creative agency in 2018, including Docs by The Sea and the World Conference on Creative Economy (WCCE).

"It is both a public report and a learning platform for Surabaya’s creative industry players," Ricky said.

Participants of Bekraf programs, and people who have represented Indonesia in international events with Bekraf’s support, will share their insights with the Surabaya audience.

For example, Ary Indra and his team, who built the Indonesian pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale, will share experiences from when they attended the prestigious festival.

The festival in Surabaya will also feature music performances from Gugun Blues Shelter, Andra and the Backbone and Surabaya's own folk-pop sensation Silampukau.

Entrance to the festival is free but you may have to register for some talks using Bekraf's own mobile app, Bisma.

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