On the set of the 2020 inaugural JakTent streaming studio. Yayasan Tujuhbelas Pulau Imaji’s Laura Prinsloo is at the center in this shot. Image: JakTent
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Prinsloo: ‘Reuniting in This Collaborative Movement’
As Publishing Perspectives readers know from our coverage in August, the Indonesian JakTent program–the name comes from Jakarta Content Week–is produced in a partnership between the Yayasan Tujuhbelas Pulau Imaji (the 17,000 Islands of Imagination Foundation) and Frankfurter Buchmesse (October 20 to 24).
JakTent is scheduled for a second annual outing, November 10 to 14, with financial support from the German Federal Foreign Office.
The 59-year-old department store, a part of which specializes in Indonesian heritage retail, is known to many by its 15-floor facility in central Jakarta. It’s named for the nanny of the former president Sukarno, who conceived of the project as a state-owned retail initiative.
Media messaging from Frankfurt today (October 13) quotes the foundation’s chair, Laura Bangun Prinsloo, saying that the program’s slogan—”To Gather Again”—refers, of course, to the same thing Frankfurt itself is doing next week in producing a physical edition of the world’s largest publishing industry trade show at Messe Frankfurt. At the same time, JakTent will be distributing digital content as Buchmesse is doing with its new Frankfurt Studio facility in Hall 4. A programming reminder: That 500-square-meter media-production hub will be inaugurated at 10 a.m. CEST on October 20 with an exclusive live in-person Publishing Perspectives interview with Penguin Random House worldwide CEO Markus Dohle, viewable on Buchmesse’s homepage.
Laura Prinsloo
As Prinsloo puts the rationale of these efforts at dual production modes “represent the state of our creative industries in regaining their strength to resume, continue, and carry on during and hopefully after the pandemic.
“And we’re confident that through reuniting in this collaborative movement, we’ll be able to gather what was missed and what’s new during this pandemic, together.
“There will be 400 speakers” at JakTent, she says, “from various sectors of the creative industries in many parts of the world—specialists in publishing, cuisine, fashion, craft, film, design, gaming, cosplay, digital start-ups, and other media—to discuss technological developments, exchange ideas and experiences, exhibit their products both in Jakarta and Frankfurt and virtually, engaging in both B2B and B2C transactions.”
Boos: ‘A Sign of Hope’
Juergen Boos
Juergen Boos, Frankfurter Buchmesse president and CEO, notes that Germany is in JakTent’s guest-of-honor position this year, saying, “We’re very happy that in this time of the pandemic—which has been extremely difficult for the Asia Pacific region—JakTent is pushing through and is giving a sign of hope and is reflecting the strength and resilience of the publishing and creative industries in the region.
“We can’t wait to reconnect in Frankfurt and in Jakarta, even if it’s not always in person.
“And it’s very exciting and meaningful that JakTent also serves as a run-up to the big year 2022, when Jakarta will host the International Publishers Association’s World Congress. We’re also celebrating Germany as the special guest in Indonesia, at JakTent and hopefully at other publishing related events as well.”
As you’ll remember, the first JakTent program last year drew 3,933 registrants, with 16,677 participants from 41 countries involved in its events. There were 326 speakers seen in 144 events. Almost 80 exhibitors were involved in a session called “The Market.”
JakTent is also supported by the Jakarta Creative City Forum (JCCF) as well as by the Sarinah retail company, which produces Indonesian heritage goods as “Sarinah, Window to Indonesia.”
Fetty Kwertati
The Sarinah department store, a Sukarno initiative from the 1960s, is represented by its CEO, Fetty Kwartati, who says, “Sarinah’s collaboration with JCCF and JakTent is strategic and important.
“JakTent’s activities, which involve many creative communities, are in line with the spirit of Sarinah’s transformation into community mall.
“Therefore, we turned the collaboration with JakTent into a series of activities on the Road to the Grand Launching of Sarinah.”
Gumilar Ekalaya
In a comment from Gumilar Ekalaya, the acting head of tourism and creative economy for Jarkarta—an agency that supports the program—we read, “JakTent’s efforts to make Jakarta a melting pot and axis of the creative industry in the Asia Pacific region will have an impact on the progress and collaboration of creative economy players – both in the Asia Pacific region and globally.
“In addition, JakTent will also be a part of a series of activities for the IPA World Congress 2022, which will be held in Jakarta.
“The publishing sector is a sector that has its uniqueness and advantages, namely as the estuary of creative content and being able to collaborate and connect with all other creative economic sectors.”
More from us on Indonesia and its publishing market is here. More from Publishing Perspectives on book fairs and trade shows is here, more on Frankfurter Buchmesse is here, more on the International Publishers Association is here, and more from us on the IPA’s world congresses is here.
Publishing Perspectives is the world media partner of the International Publishers Association.
More from us the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on international book publishing is here.