Cooperating With Gekraf, Bank Mandiri's Role In The Success Of Arizona Indofest 2025 In Amrik

Arizona Fest 2025 (Doc. Ist)

JAKARTA Cultural identity is often treated through food, music, cloth, and stories. Arizona IndoFest 2025 which will take place on 2325 August 2025 in Arizona, United States, is present as a meeting room for diaspora, creative actors, cultural connoisseurs, as well as cross-sector partners to share works, experiences, and collaboration opportunities. This festival is also relevant to the fact that there are more than 150 thousand Indonesian diaspora in the United States, including communities in Arizona that are engaged in the culinary, craft, and creative sectors.

This festival is part of a series of Mandiri Creative Economy 2025, an initiative in Japan, the United States, and Turkey aimed at encouraging Indonesia's creative diplomacy through open dialogue and sustainable networks. In Arizona, the theme celebrating cultural heritage'' and triggering collaboration' is translated into a variety of activities designed simple but meaningful, ranging from the open stage and directed business meetings to the discussion of grounded panels as well as culinary, craft, and creative fashion expo. curation results.

Deputy Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, who is also Chairman of the GEKRAFS Advisory Board, emphasized the importance of the role of the creative economy industry in the midst of global challenges. According to him, in a stressful world economic situation, creative ideas are needed to present real solutions that can generate state revenues while at the same time helping the affected communities.

According to Dasco, the creative economy is not only the economic sector, but rather an expression of the nation's culture and identity. He emphasized that the creativity of the nation's children must be a force that not only drives the national economy but also has an ideal place on the world stage. Now is the time for Indonesia to lead with cultural power and creativity. Together, let's make the creative economy a locomotive towards an advanced and influential Indonesia globally," he said.

In the midst of this series of activities, Bank Mandiri emphasized its role through the Livin' Around The World (LATW) program which was presented in Arizona IndoFest as a means of socializing Livin' digital services by Mandiri. As of May 2025, the Livin' by Mandiri application has been used by more than 31.6 million users with a transaction frequency of 1.8 billion transactions with a value of IDR 1.744 trillion.

Bank Mandiri SEVP Corporate Relations M. Wisnu Trihanggodo said this achievement emphasized Bank Mandiri's role as the main driver of digital banking in Indonesia, as well as showing acceleration, synergy, and commitment in providing adaptive financial services for various needs, including for Indonesian diaspora.

Through the LATW initiative, Bank Mandiri is committed to providing real added value for the Indonesian diaspora. We want to ensure that access to digital financial literacy can help manage creative businesses more in an orderly and sustainable manner. With synergy with the community, we believe that accelerating creative economic growth can be stronger and more relevant on the global stage," said Vishnu in his official statement.

The same thing was also emphasized by the General Chairperson of GEKRAFS Kawendra Lukistian, who said that creative diplomacy worked the best when the community sat together without prestige, heard each other, then moved together. Our IndoFest 2025 arizona is designed as a reasonable encounter space: people come, get to know each other, then maybe tomorrow they will work together," he said.

Arizona IndoFest 2025 will feature various activities, ranging from musical performances, dances, and brief dialogues that provide a cultural context of the work that is staged, to expo depleted, highlighting culinary, fabric, craft, and creative fashion with stories behind materials, processes, and craftsmen. The business meeting held emphasized directed follow-up with a focus on compatibility of value and real cooperation opportunities.

We diaspora in Arizona see that our friends in Indonesia think that to enter America, they need to struggle with their own cost and it is very expensive. However, Arizona is an up-and-coming-state whose economic growth rate is higher than akungangan with much more affordable business costs for Indonesian companies and products that want to enter America. Through Arizona IndoFest, we hope that this message can be accepted by Indonesians who want to explore the American market. Including the Indonesian creative industry. " said Ananda Hutapea, the candidate for chairman of North American DPLN Gekrafs.

Meanwhile, Inggid Dotulong-Mailor, Chair of the Arizona IndoFest organizing committee, said that Arizona IndoFest is expected to be the beginning of annual activities that can attract the attention of local people to do business with Indonesia. In addition, we hope that the Indonesian diaspora in Arizona will also start seeing this as an opportunity for them and start an MSME belonging to the Indonesian diaspora in Arizona.

The panel discussion will address practical issues around market access, education, cultural collaboration, and tourism. Bank Mandiri's socialization of LATW will complement the entire series with a straightforward question and answer format on how digital services are able to support the cash flow of creative businesses and daily financial needs.

In addition, the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia (KJRI) was also present through a limited face-to-face information booth and session. The presence of this diplomatic representative not only provides a legitimacy umbrella for diaspora and business actors, but also provides official referrals in terms of consular services, protection of Indonesian citizens, to explanations of cross-border administrative procedures. The support of the Indonesian Consulate General at the same time strengthens the position of Arizona IndoFest in the eyes of US partners, so that the network's follow-up can take place more safely, orderly, and sustainably.

The spirit of collaboration in organizing Arizona IndoFest 2025 is also in line with the big vision of Indonesia's creative economy development. GEKRAFS can be big not only from us, but also from the spirit of creative economy actors. With strong regulatory support, we believe the creative economy can be a real power, not just a narrative," concluded Kawendra.

Arizona IndoFest 2025 will be held on August 23-25, 2025 in Arizona, United States, with public agendas and registration available through GEKRAFS' official channel.