Simple Yet Effective: Relational Public Diplomacy by Indonesian Art Centres

Indonesia has engaged in public diplomacy through the Indonesian Arts and Culture Scholarship (IACS) programme for over two decades. This programme provides scholarship to foreign and Indonesian students to study Indonesian art and culture at government-partnered art centres in Indonesia. These art centres organise IACS activities for two to three and a half months. The success of Indonesia’s public diplomacy initiative depends on how the art centres implement their activities and programmes. However, there is a lack of research on the role of art centres as agents of public diplomacy. Understanding this would offer a clearer picture of the advantages and disadvantages of art centres as public diplomacy agents and enrich our knowledge of how public diplomacy is carried out by non-state actors in non-Western countries. To address this gap, this study interviewed Indonesian art centre owners, teachers, IACS 2023 participants, and informants from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The study also analysed 52 alumni testimonials from the book “15 Years of Indonesian Arts and Culture Scholarship”. All interview data were coded using Lee and Ayhan’s relational public diplomacy framework, and alumni testimonials were coded by highlighting frequently appearing words. The results of this study demonstrate that art centres engage in public diplomacy through their natural intuition, which is nurtured by experience and interaction with the public. The public diplomacy approach may be simple and not fully adhere to a specific framework, but it has effectively established an emotional connection with the alumni.