West Sumatra, for instance, concentrates solely on West Sumatran
(Minangkabau) dances and music. The same can be said of the craft
school in Japara, which concentrates exclusively on the fine woodcarving
for which Japara has been famous for centuries.
However, the art academies have a wider orientation, providing formal
education in both the national (mainly traditional) as well as the international
and specifically Western imported arts.
There are seven state academies of art, co-ordinated by the Institute
of Arts at the Directorate-General of Higher Education, Department of
Education and Culture. Of these seven academies of art, only one is
concerned with visual arts. However, at the Institute of Technology in
Bandung, West Java, there is a Faculty of Fine Arts, specializing mainly
in modern painting and sculpture.
Mention may also be made of the Academy of Jakarta, an academy
of music, dance and visual arts (including film and photography), sponsored
by the local administration of Jakarta, situated at the Jakarta Art
Centre (Taman Ismael Marzuki), of which the traditional dance and music
group is especially outstanding.
In addition to these schools and academies, there are privately
owned schools and informal courses, some of which have a high reputation,
specifically in the traditional types of art and crafts, such as the education
centres for traditional dance and music situated in and sponsored by the
princely houses of Surakarta and Yogyakarta. These centres are considered
to be preservation centres of the traditional dances and music formerly
only allowed at the princely palaces. As such, they also attract interets
from foreign pupils. Another popular centre for dance and music in
Yogyakarta is Bagong Kussudiardjo’s, whose training centre is built along