What We Do
Community Gamelan
Bringing people together to play Indonesian music is what started the foundation of Nusantara Arts back before we were even a nonprofit. Learning together, playing together, and enjoying the incredible music together. Our ongoing community groups and beginner classes follow a model inspired by Indonesian learning methods and are focus on community and inclusion.
World Class Performances
Since our first major performance at Kleinhans Music Hall in 2018, we have developed an appetite for performing at a high level, in collaboration with inspiring guest artists. We present to both large and intimate audiences throughout New York and have played at many iconic venues in Buffalo. Our performances offer a fun and immersive cultural experience showcasing concert music, shadow puppetry, and dance.
Youth Programing
Giving children the opportunity to learn any kind of music is important; giving them the opportunity to learn gamelan music is a rare treasure. The skills learned while playing gamelan are unlike common forms of western music and help children with listening skills, empathy, memory, and awareness. In collaboration with Buffalo String Works, Nusantara Arts currently produces an after school gamelan program for 30 refugee students.
Preservation
We gain all of our inspiration from the masters and practitioners of gamelan music who have made music for centuries in Indonesia. Being connected to that legacy and in some way helping to preserve and maintain it where we can is important to us. In that sentiment we work with Indonesian artists and composers for important and interesting projects that are beneficial to the preservation of gamelan culture and the connection of our cultures. This work oftentimes has an immediate focus like fundraisers that help keep food on the table for musicians, guest lectures on gamelan music making and Indonesian culture, and collections of recordings preserving compositions by revered artists.