LUMEN | SJI ’ S GLOBAL ISSUES FESTIVAL 2023 : THE ASEAN IMAGINATION
SJI ’ s Global Issues Festival 2023 : The ASEAN Imagination
by Aidan Maclaren
Pope John Paul II ’ s Prayer for Artists : Heavenly Father , Beauty is a key to the mystery and a call to transcendence . It is an invitation to savour life and to dream of the future . That is why the beauty of created things can never fully satisfy . It stirs that hidden nostalgia for God . Artists of the world , may our many different paths all lead to that infinite Ocean of beauty where wonder becomes awe , exhilaration , unspeakable joy . Amen .
This prayer was recited at the opening ceremony of the 2023 SJI Global Issues Festival : The ASEAN Imagination organised by the English Department in IBAM . The festival , now on its fourth incarnation , was scoped to draw greater attention towards the particular intersection between cultural expression and regional identity , especially within ASEAN . Historically speaking , the primary expression of culture , no matter the race , nation , or continent , has usually been through art in one of its abundant forms - and this is no less true within modern-day South-East Asia . As such , SJI invited numerous artists of multitudinous mediums to take the stage throughout the course of the festival , who were watched by many pairs of eager , gleaming eyes belonging to the numerous student-artists scattered throughout the auditorium , both from among SJI ’ s own student population as well as from the School of the Arts ( SOTA ).
To start the event , SJI invited musicians Hummingbird Music , a local “ edutainment ” band , to the stage for a musical plenary showcasing a multilingual song selection from the different ASEAN nations . While entertaining students and inciting frenzied discussions about the language and nation of origin of each song , they also took the opportunity to educate students about ASEAN ’ s purpose and structure through interactive quizzes .
This year , we were fortunate to host several local writers as guest speakers - arts manager Karisa Poedijrahardjo , the spoken word poets Jennifer Anne Champion and Gemma Pereira , as well as director and producer Aydeel Djoeharie . After the delightful Hummingbird
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