Indonesian Funds Increase 500 Percent, Minister of Culture Warns Non-Native Cultural Actors to Submit Proposals

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Culture encourages cultural actors to more seriously utilize the Indonesian Raya Fund. This program is not just a form of assistance, but a stimulus so that artists, communities, and cultural institutions are able to build independent and sustainable works.

Minister of Culture Fadli Zon said the Indonesian Raya Fund was sourced from the Permanent Culture Fund managed by the LPDP. The scheme is an instrument for funding the development of national culture.

"Indonesian funds are in fact a stimulus-type support. This needs to be emphasized," said Fadli in the online activity Sapa Budaya: Weaving Works with Indonesian Funds, Tuesday, May 5.

According to Fadli, the assistance is expected to be a spark for the growth of initiatives, creativity, and independence of cultural actors, especially in the regions.

In 2025, the Indonesian Raya Fund was disbursed to 2,117 beneficiaries with a total budget of Rp. 141.7 billion. This amount is up about 500 percent compared to the previous year. Overall, the distribution of this program has reached Rp. 494 billion.

The program includes 11 categories of funding. Recipients are open to individuals, communities, and cultural institutions. Priority is given to lagging, leading, and outermost regions as well as indigenous people.

Head of the Planning and Finance Bureau of the Ministry of Culture, Puguh Wiyatno, said that the interest of cultural actors continued to rise. For 2026, there are already 9,225 registered accounts and 640 proposals have been submitted.

However, he reminded that proposals are not enough just to contain ideas. Proposals must have a strong background, clear goals, measurable outputs, realistic timelines, and a neat division of roles.

"Through a transparent and inclusive mechanism, the Indonesian Raya Fund democratizes access to financial support for artists and cultural actors in all corners of the country," he said.

Director of Research Facilitation of the LPDP of the Ministry of Finance, Ayom Widipaminto, explained that the LPDP acts as a fund manager, while the Ministry of Culture designs, selects, and monitors the program.

Ayom also highlighted technical obstacles that often hinder disbursement. Among them are documents that are not in accordance with the standards, RAB has not met the standards, and reporting is late.

He asked the beneficiaries to be more thorough so that the funds could be channeled in a timely manner and have an impact on the cultural ecosystem.