The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy and the Tourism and Creative Economy Agency expressed its appreciation for the inventions and new trends started by the nation's creative minds, who chose to be productive in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Acting Deputy of Digital Economy and Creative Product, Joshua Simandjuntak, in a statement received in Jakarta on Wednesday, said all sub-sectors of the creative economy are facing major impacts from COVID-19. At the moment, he noted that the situation is no longer only a health emergency, but also an economic emergency.
For that reason, he expressed his appreciation towards those creative individuals who are able to adapt and even create new trends and opportunities.
"In a situation like today, we need to stay productive, even within our limitations, and right now we need to adapt," he said.
He took note of the effort initiated by photographer Heret Frasthio, who promoted the #ShootFromHome method to encourage photographers to continue to work and create. The method was later adopted in other creative fields, such as videography, and led to collaborations.
"It started from creativity and became a positive action, a solution to how creative people can remain productive," Joshua said.
Simandjuntak was one of the speakers in the "Collabonation" online discussion held on Tuesday, April 28. Also attending the discussion were Raesaka (director), Anton Yudhistira (Creative Director), Nicholas (Founder of Creative Hub), and Fahroni Arifin (Head of Indosat Ooredoo's Brand Management and Strategy).
The Ministry, he continued, encourages the same efforts to be performed by other creative economy sub-sectors, adding that the government is prepared to assist them.
"Not only must this breakthrough must be duplicated, but how can this mentality be maintained in order to continue to seek creative solutions? We are here to provide help, to become facilitators, bringing together various parties so that the solutions created by our friends can be disseminated and developed in other sectors," he said.
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(INE)
Translator: Hanni Sofia/Aria Cindyara
Editor: Suharto
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