INDONESIA COFFEE FESTIVAL : UBUD 15-16 September 2012.

Jakarta - Indonesia merupakan salah satu produsen kopi terbesar di dunia. Ada banyak jenis kopi asli negeri ini yang memiliki karakteristik unik. Karena itulah, Kementerian Pariwisata dan Ekonomi Kreatif (Kemenparekraf) akan mempromosikan kopi nusantara lewat Indonesian Coffee Festival (ICF).

ICF akan diselenggarakan di Ubud, Bali, pada 15-16 September 2012. Di tahun keduanya, acara ini akan dimeriahkan dengan workshop untuk barista, bazar kopi, dan kunjungan ke perkebunan kopi di Kintamani, Bali. Sebelumnya juga sudah dilangsungkan acara Road to ICF di Bandung.

Saat ini, Indonesia menempati urutan ketiga sebagai penghasil kopi terbesar di dunia, setelah Brazil dan Kolombia. Luas perkebunan kopi di Indonesia mencapai 1,3 juta hektar. Area ini tersebar di Aceh, Sumatera Utara, Lampung, Jawa Barat, Jawa Tengah, Bali, Nusa Tenggara Timur, Sulawesi Selatan, hingga Papua. Total ada 14 provinsi penghasil kopi unggulan dengan karakteristik yang berbeda-beda.

"Kami berharap ICF dapat membuat kopi khas Indonesia, seperti kopi tubruk, dikenal masyarakat luas. Selain itu, kami juga menginginkan terjalinnya hubungan saling menguntungkan antara komunitas hulu dan hilir dari kopi Indonesia," ujar Wakil Menteri Parekfraf Dr. Sapta Nirwandar saat konferensi pers, Selasa (28/8).

Komunitas hulu dan hilir adalah pihak-pihak yang berperan dalam produksi hingga konsumsi kopi. Petani, pabrik, distributor kopi, distributor mesin dan peralatan, produsen keramik untuk cangkir kopi, dinas pariwisata daerah, serta kamar dagang dan industri adalah beberapa kelompok yang akan turut serta dalam ICF. Spa dan chef yang menggunakan kopi juga akan diajak bekerja sama.

Menurut Sapta, tujuan dari acara ini adalah untuk menjadikan Indonesia sebagai kiblat kopi dunia. Kemenparekraf juga ingin memasukkan agrowisata kopi sebagai salah satu destinasi pariwisata unggulan. Tak hanya itu, kuliner kopipun akan dijadikan gaya hidup sebagai bagian dari ekonomi kreatif. Untuk mewujudkan hal ini, Kemenparekraf bekerja sama dengan Pemerintah Kabupaten Gianyar, Kerajaan Ubud, Asosiasi Kopi Spesial Indonesia, serta komunitas dan blogger kopi.

"Kopi adalah komoditi bernilai tinggi. Kita ambil contoh 1 juta orang Eropa yang datang ke Indonesia setiap tahunnya. Mereka punya kebiasaan meminum kopi 3-5 kali sehari. Bayangkan nilai konsumsi kopi saat mereka bertandang ke Indonesia. Belum lagi jika ditambah dengan wisatawan dari negara lain, nilai ekspor, dan sebagainya," kata Sapta.

Ellyanthi Tambunan, direktur pelaksana ICF, mengatakan bahwa masyarakat Indonesia kurang mendapat edukasi tentang kopi. Ia mencontohkan Cina sebagai negara peminum teh yang baru mencoba beralih ke kopi. "Cina mengambil bibit kopi dari Lampung untuk ditanam di sana. Mereka saja yang baru merintis sudah berani mengadakan festival kopi. Mengapa Indonesia tidak?" tegasnya. Ia berharap dengan adanya ICF, pengusaha-pengusaha kopi kecil juga dapat bermain di pasar internasional seperti pengusaha besar.

http://food.detik.com/read/2012/08/29/091457/2001683/294/indonesian-coffee-festival-akan-digelar-di-bali

INTERNATIONAL BALI MEDITATOR' FESTIVAL : 20 -23 SEPT 2012

The International Bali Meditators Festival (IBMF) has gained so much interests since it was initially set up in 2009. About 1,000 participants attended the previous festival and this number is going to increase this year as more facilitators are invited to join the event.

The fourth celebration of the annual event will be conducted on September 20 to 23 this year in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia. Gathering a lot of people from different spiritual backgrounds, the year’s Festival puts up an interesting theme:

“One Earth, One Sky, One Humankind:
Towards the Global Peace and Interfaith Harmony through Meditation”

The Festival features music and dance performances, apart from formal sessions such as panel discussions and workshops. Special events will include various programs such as yoga for kids, yoga for youth and many more. You may visit some booths on the bazaar area while enjoying the view of the place we have chosen as the event venue.

IBMF 2012 shall be the place where people meditate and celebrate in love and togetherness. While meditation builds and strengthens our inner cores, celebration is the way to share the overwhelming joy. Together, we are going to re-learn the forgotten language of love, and create a path towards a peaceful world and united mankind.

http://www.balimeditates.org/

UBUD WRITERS & READERS FESTIVAL : 3 - 7 OCT 2012

The Ubud Writers & Readers Festival 2012 has chosen as its theme This Earth of Mankind: Bumi Manusia, from the title of an epic best selling book by one of Indonesia’s greatest contemporary writers, Pramoedya Ananta Toer. This Earth of Mankind is the first book in Pramoedya’s historical fiction series The Buru Quartet, first published by Hasta Mitra in 1980. The story is set at the end of Dutch colonial rule and was written while Pramoedya was a political prisoner on the island prison of Buru in eastern Indonesia. Pramoedya’s life on Buru was one of deprivation, hard labour and physical cruelty. Denied even the most rudimentary writing implements, he ingeniously narrated the work to his fellow prisoners, who communicated it throughout the prison population.  The work was maintained and kept until, after several years, Pramoedya was granted access to writing materials.   The enduring power of storytelling will be at the heart of the Ubud Writers & Readers Festival 2012.

From 3-7 October, an eclectic and staggeringly diverse host of writers will gather together in Bali’s cultural hub to ponder and share the concerns that unite, stir and inspire us all, in a celebration of stories and voices.

We will welcome writers from China, Malaysia, Norway, Myanmar, India, Finland, The Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Singapore, France, Mexico, Australia, the UK, Ireland, the US, Canada, Japan, Egypt, Colombia, Hungary, New Zealand, Thailand, Russia, Germany, and from across the Indonesian archipelago.

The Ubud Writers & Readers Festival is the major annual project of the not-for-profit foundation, the Yayasan Mudra Swari Saraswati. It was first conceived of by Janet De Neefe, co-founder of the Foundation, as a healing project in response to the first Bali bombing, and 2012 will be the occasion of the ninth Festival.

The Ubud Writers & Readers Festival mission is simple and yet complex:  to create a world class literary event which encourages a free and unfettered dialogue that transcends race, creed and gender to celebrate the universal appeal of story and open a window to the treasury of words and ideas. By so doing, we facilitate the sharing of stories and throw light upon the means by which they might be told. We are proud of our continuing success in bringing Indonesian and international writers together on a   world stage and expanding readership of contemporary literature across genres, across cultural divides.

http://www.ubudwritersfestival.com