The Numbay Creative Festival is a collaborative festival organized annually by the Numbay Creative Forum community and facilitated by the Jayapura city government of Papua Province. It brings together creative communities in Papua, to create a party celebration by showcasing the potential of the local creative economy as an effort to support the development of the local creative economy.
This festival is part of the Nusantara Charisma Event (Karisma Event Nusantara/KEN) agenda of the Indonesian Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy. KEN is a collaboration between the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, regional governments, and all tourism stakeholders to raise the image of Indonesian tourism and drive the revival of the tourism sector and creative economy.
At the 2023 Numbay Creative Festival, the event was attended and opened by the Indonesian Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Sandiaga Uno. The Minister expressed his appreciation for the event, seeing the spirit to advance the creative economy sector in the city of Jayapura, Papua. The Director of Music, Film and Animation of the Ministry, Muhamad Amin Abdullah said the Papuan youth community incorporated in the Numbay Creative Forum possess the spirit of progress and development, which led to the Numbay Creative Festival becoming part of the top 10 of KEN in 2023.
In 2024 the Numbay Creative Festival will be held in the PTC Entrop area, Jayapura City on June 22-24, 2024. At this year’s festival the Cultural Preservation Center (BPK) Region XXII said it would involve 30 dance studios, the involvement of these dance studios is important as a forum for the younger generation in the area to maintain and preserve art and culture. the head of the Region XXII Cultural Preservation Centre (BPK) said “This event is also a forum of cultural expression for the youth in each region in Indonesia and Papua”.
The involvement of these dance studios means that Papuan youth will be given a stage for their art performances, because although most of them already know how to dance and sing there are still very few public spaces available to express their art. At this year’s performance, it is hoped that many people, especially parents, can bring their children to see the culture in this event, so that the festival activities can benefit artists, and the younger generation in Papua, especially Jayapura city to love their culture.
It can be concluded that through this creative festival, the local government together with the local community and the central government can continue to strive to advance the potential of tourism, art, as well as the creative economy in Papua by providing space for expression as well as helping local MSMEs in creative economic development.
West Papua Now 