Scholarship / Personal Statement for Erasmus : GLOCAL Programme Global History and Creative Cities Pathway [5]

I expect to submit at January 8. It will be great if I can receive inputs from experts here. Thanks!

Personal Statement for Erasmus Mundus

- GLOCAL Global History and Creative Cities Pathway

Creative industries are gaining national and global recognition for its positive contribution to national and regional development. Europe has marked itself as the leading region of this field with UK recorded the sector's contribution to the economy in 2017 was up by 14.2 per cent of the country's Gross Value Added. In Asia, China was and is still recorded as the biggest exporter of creative goods, in addition to the country's other industrial goods. In Asia, on the other hand, there is also my country, Indonesia, that possesses long reputation as home to more than 500 tribes and 700 ethnic languages spread over more than 17,000 islands. This possession has put Indonesia as one of potential global players in cultural and creative field. Despite the fact, Indonesia started to get awaken of its huge potencies only in 2007, marked by the first exhibition of the country's cultural products. Now it has been 10 years. With the increasing recognition of creative fields, Indonesia should have been ready to enter the global market. However, it is so unfortunate that Indonesia Central Bureau of Statistics recorded in 2016 only five out of its 31 provinces have optimised local potencies and contributed 7.44 per cent to the country's GDP. If only local governments of Indonesia are more aware of the benefits of optimising local creativities and their capacities are developed, Indonesian city's welfare will be much more improved, creative field's contribution to Indonesia's GDP will be much higher, and Indonesia will be more developed as a country.

Working as a Media and Communications Coordinator in United Cities and Local Governments Asia-Pacific (UCLG ASPAC), I see the opportunity to contribute to accelerate the growth of creative industries in Indonesia by entering the Erasmus Mundus International Master Program of Global Markets, Local Creativities - Global History and Creative Cities pathway. Learning in the international programme that takes holistic approach in creative industry will definitely leverage my current knowledge and skills academically and professionally and provide me with rooms to utilise it further and to expand my network to be further used to heighthen awareness and build capacity of local governments in Indonesia.

My proudest and most recent professional achievement is promoting the Asia-Pacific Forum - Innovation Driven Development for Sustainable Cities, held from 12 to 15 of September 2018 in Surabaya. My promotion plan recorded the attendance of more than 1000 local governments of multiple levels and urban experts and 70 media representatives, resulted in more than 150 media outlets covering the event on printed, online, and broadcast media even one week after the event concluded. This huge coverage enabled my organisations' partners to extend their advocacy message to the wider public such as European Union (EU), represented by Mr. Vincent Guerend, EU Ambassador for Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam. He invited all parties to collaborate on tackling challenges on environment resulting from climate change. Moreover, I also produce creative knowledge tools, such as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Memory Card Game in Bahasa and English which was also supported by EU under the SDGs for Indonesia framework. I managed to create demand from local governments in Indonesia who found the tool very attractive to learn about SDGs. In addition, I have managed to stimulate and link cities and my organisation's partners, such as UNICEF and Ministry of Children Protection and Women Empowerment to establish Youth and Development Committee by presenting Youth and Local Development survey result in my organisation's Newsletter. One of the follow-ups is the organisation of Youth Forum held in April 2018 in Jeonju City, South Korea, that also involved David Parrish, prominent creative industries speaker from UK, discussing the local economic development, local potencies, and youth. Looking back further, I also took part in leading an entrepreneurship programme for students of vocational schools organised by PT AXIS Telekom Indonesia. I contributed in determining winning proposals to be further supported through funding and assistance in monitoring and sustaining business growth.

I put particular interest on Global Markets, Local Creativities programme as, reflected from the website, it offers core modules that identify the role of cities, private sectors, family business, and national and international organisations in sustaining the local creativities for local economic development and to remain innovative when entering global market. This will be priceless insights that comprehend my academic knowledge in humanities covering background information such as culture, language, and advertising. I concluded my undergraduate programme with research in the analysis of multiculturalism representation in tourism brochure of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore and earned 'A' mark. It will also provide me with solid understanding on the role of respective stakeholders for development of local creativities, which will be very much useful for my future works. Moreover, the Global History and Creative Cities pathway specifically offers knowledge and skills to build international cooperation through international relations, history of globalisation, and role of creative cities modules. I found those modules very much useful and relevant as well for my future aspiration to build global network and partnership and connect my country with relevant stakeholders to accelerate the growth of local creativities. My future aspiration will also lead my way in developing thesis. I will compare key enabling factors of local creativities development in Yogyakarta and Rotterdam, cities representing Indonesia and Europe, to give me additional insights and to set another ground for me in cultivating opportunities to collaborate and develop together.

Upon graduation, I would like to do three things. First, I will create an integrated campaign showcasing all benefits of optimising local creativities and potencies that Indonesia has. I believe mind-set changing campaign can only be successful if there is combination of talking and action taking. Therefore, the campaign will not only promote, but will also include various capacity building activities for local governments and public through Training of Trainers programme, as well as media engagement to stimulate public support and participation. To be able to do this, I will bring together relevant networks that I currently have and gain during my study and cultivate the collaboration opportunities. I will also connect with colleagues in capacity building division in my organisation from planning to implementation stage. To make this happen, I will re-join my organisation and pursue the position of Head of Communications. Second, I aspire to become an expert in my country with perspective of Europe as leading and dominant region in the field of creative industry development. By becoming an expert, I will put myself as medium that connect local and national government. I will also utilise my knowledge, experience, and network to provide solutions for far-reaching and more profound impacts. Lastly, I would also like to build the entrepreneurship capacity of people in my neighbourhood by opening a learning facility and also hold regular entrepreneurship workshop in my local church.

My vision in the future is to be able to contribute to the greater good in the field I am passionate about, the culture. Entering this Erasmus Mundus International Master Program will provide me with this opportunity and privilege considering its merit and global reputation. I hope the committee will find my application well-suited for this life-changing opportunity.