The Bersama Project is an Indonesian foundation that uses music and the arts to promote gender equality and end violence against women. It builds public awareness of these issues through various creative campaigns and works with Indonesian artists to advocate on these topics through their work. The organization aims to influence cultural attitudes and achieve measurable progress on gender perspectives through collaborative efforts between women and men.

1. Bersama Project
An Indonesian foundation to confront violence against
women and achieve gender equality through music and
the arts

2. Women and Girls in Indonesia
Gender inequality and violence against women are
endemic. Most women will experience
discrimination, exploitation, harassment, or violence
in their lifetimes.
In the home, workplace, streets, classroom, and her
own body, women face daily challenges to their
safety, security, and dignity.

3. Threats to equality
In the Home: Nearly 300,000 cases of violence against women were reported in 2014, 70% of which
were domestic abuse cases. Legalized polygamy and patriarchal inheritance customs compound gender
equality in the home (KOMNAS Perempuan, 2014).
In the Workplace: Indonesian women earn 79% of the average hourly wage of men, and the wage gap
for monthly salaried workers is even higher (ILO, 2013). Gender-based job segregation tends to trap
women in low-level jobs, and workplace regulations fail to protect women from labor exploitation and
verbal, physical, or sexual harrassment.
On the Streets: Regulations to “protect” women from sexual assault in public places (e.g., “women
only” train cars and curfews or restrictions on nighttime employment), are not preventive and limit
women’s freedoms. Underdeveloped sexual assault laws restrict rape victims’ ability to seek justice, and
lack of knowledge on rape is displayed at the judicial system’s highest level.
In the Classroom: Girls compose 60-70% of all withdrawals in primary and senior high school.
Pressures to marry, have children, and work to provide for the family are primary reasons why girls do not
continue their education (Ministry of Education, 2011). Gender-biased textbooks and students’ selection
of specializations at vocational schools and universities reinforce gender stereotypes.
In the Body: Advertising and the entertainment industry reinforce unrealistic beauty standards, and
practices such as female genital mutilation remain customary in many regions of the country. Indonesia’s
anti-pornography law, virginity tests, and more than 150 regional bylaws unfairly target women and
demonstrate that sexual and bodily autonomy are not yet possible (KOMNAS Perempuan, 2012).

4. Every human society cultivates music and
the arts.
These vital components of human social life
often direct collective attention toward
shared problems and potential solutions.
They educate as they entertain, inspire
emotional response and empathy, and have
the potential to reach large audiences with
a clear and repetitive call to action.
A creative intervention aims the methods of
activism and communicative media of
music and the arts toward pragmatic end
and humanitarian benefit.
It is time for a Creative
Intervention

5. Bersama Project is an Indonesian foundation dedicated to
creative advocacy to confront violence against women and
promote gender equality through music & the arts.

6. What we do
Bersama Project builds public awareness about
gender inequality and gender-based violence
through performances, exhibitions, workshops,
documentaries, and social media campaigns.
“We are tough. There isn’t anything
that happens instantly for us. It all
needs a process.”
— Yacko Oktaviana, hip hop artist and
INTI College Marketing Professor,
Bersama Project Partner

7. How we do it
Bersama Project influences the influencers.
We support Indonesian musicians and artists—many of whom have encountered gender
inequality in their creative professions or survived gender-based violence—to advocate for
gender equality and an end to gender-based violence through their creative platforms.
We provide opportunities for dialogue and collaboration between Violence Against
Women (VAW) and gender equality scholars, activists, and NGOs and professionals within
the creative industries, such as musicians, artists, songwriters, concert promoters, art
curators, and record label executives.
“To use art as activism is to
create a bridge between the
message and the people.”
– Kartika Jahja, Bersama Project
Director, VAW advocate, Tika
and the Dissidents frontwoman

8. What we want to achieve
Bersama Project supports equality and an end to gender-based violence
through music and the arts. We are committed to a creative intervention on the
social, economic, political, educational, and labor inequities that impact us all.
We aim to achieve measureable outcomes in equality perspectives through a
commitment between women and men and for a collective paradigm shift.
Our immediate objective is capacity-building for Indonesian musicians and
artists to support gender equality by staging a creative intervention. Our long-
term objective is a sustainable creative collective that will accelerate the
cultural paradigm shift toward true gender equality in Indonesia.
“We do not agree with any law that controls
the bodies of women. We express our
restlessness through music.”
— Teraya Paramehta, Wonderbra
frontwoman, University of Indonesia English
professor, Bersama Project Partner

9. Foundation Team
Rebekah E. Moore, PhD, Project Advisor – Ethnomusicologist and Indiana University
graduate Rebekah E. Moore has nearly a decade of experience in Indonesia’s music
industry, community development, and capacity-building. Her research on music’s
capacity to activate social change has resulted in conference presentations, university
lectures, academic publications, and public programs. Rebekah has produced nearly fifty
music workshops, art exhibitions, concerts, and festivals. She is a writer, lecturer at the
University of Indonesia, and has advised on several successful funding proposals for
development and education projects in Indonesia.
Kartika Jahja, Director – Musician, writer, VAW activist, and Bersama Project Director
Kartika Jahja has more than twenty years of experience in the music industry. She is
frontwoman for critically acclaimed and socially engaged indie band Tika and the
Dissidents. Kartika also has more than ten years of experience fighting for women’s rights
and an end to violence against women. She is the founder of 1 Billion Rising Indonesia, a
global mass action campaign to end violence against women.
Charlie Chris Evans, Production Coordinator and Content Advisor – Since 2013, musician,
artist, former lawyer, and Production Coordinator and Content Advisor Charlie Chris Evans
has focused his art and activism on gender equality. Charlie works to expand knowledge
on gender issues by counseling abusers, providing legal aid on gender structural laws, and
facilitating educational activities on gender, sexuality, and men’s roles to eliminate gender-
based violence. Charlie also remains active in the punk music community with his band,
Error Crew.

10. Artist Partners
Bersama Project works together with the creative trendsetters of Indonesia to achieve our
goals. Artist partners are selected for frontline Bersama Project campaigns according to
three rigorous criteria and in order to provide diverse opportunities for dialogue and
debate across a range of creative media:
1. Knowledge on the importance of gender equality issues and/or willingness to take
part in capacity-building activities.
2. Creative capacity, including technical proficiency and creative output within their
artistic mediums and capacity to effectively convey a clear and relevant call to action
through Bersama Project campaigns.
3. Popularity and notoriety among fans, critics, academics, and the media, as well as
outreach capacity via public programs such as concerts, exhibitions, university talks,
and social, print, and broadcast media engagement.
“Art education is a public intervention that has a huge impact on
society.”
— Ika Vantiani, Visual Artist, Curator, Bersama Project Partner

11. Roundtable Discussion: A Creative
Intervention for Gender Equality
On 2 July 2015, Bersama Project held “Intervensi Kreatif untuk Kesetaraan
Gender,” (Creative Intervention for Gender Equality), a roundtable discussion
attended by musicians, visual artists, journalists, bloggers, development
professionals, and academics. The aim of the roundtable was to open a
discussion on the current state of gender relations—both within creative
industries and Indonesian society—and the potential for music and the arts to
achieve gender equality.

12. Roundtable Conclusions
Discussion between roundtable participants and audience questions and
comments illuminated the following conclusions:
1. The cultural, economic, and political causes of gender equality have not
been sufficiently addressed through governmental regulations or
developmental initiatives.
2. Music and the arts are potentially powerful media for addressing these
issues and achieving a cultural paradigm shift.
3. Women and men must take part in the artistic dialogue, in order to achieve
measurable results.
4. A creative intervention requires clear objectives and comprehensive
capacity-building for artists.

13. Project Launch: #1Voice4Women
As our official launch and first campaign, Bersama Project produced four live music videos and
interviews with woman-fronted bands in Jakarta. Musicians performed original songs; shared
encounters with women’s exploitation, marginalization, or harassment in the music industry;
and commented on artists’ capacity to support gender equality within their professional
environments. The campaign was launched with a video screening and concert at Paviliun28,
Jakarta on 2 July 2015.
To view the #1Voice4Women Videos, see: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-U-
Se516fWyBSB7BEFuXpnqyxEEg4p3F

14. Campaign: “Riot Grrrl and Activism for Women in Music”
Bersama Project hosted the Indonesian Premiere of
The Punk Singer: A Film About Kathleen Hanna
by American filmmaker Sini Anderson, screened with permission
Bersama Project hosted film screenings and discussions at Paviliun 28, Jakarta
(22 September) and Clapper Café, Semarang, Central Java (24 October).

15. Campaign: #TubuhkuOtoritasku (My Body, My Right) Music
Video and Festival to promote Body Autonomy and
Positivity, International Women’s Day, 8 March 2016
Bersama Project executive produced Tika and the Dissidents’ music video, “Tubuhku Otoritasku”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KNL7lUchtc

16. Social Media Advocacy for Women and the Arts
Bersama Project leverages Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram using digital media best
practices for outreach and knowledge creation. With art, music, and popular culture as both the
amplifiers and subjects of our public outreach, we launch weekly campaigns to engage
musicians, artists, women’s rights activists, and young Indonesians in public dialogue about the
importance of ending gender-based violence and supporting gender equality through music and
the arts.

17. Selected Media Coverage
Bersama Project Director
Kartika Jahja was selected
as a “woman who breaks
through barriers,” in
Tempo Magazine’s
commemoration of Kartini
Day 2016.

18. 2016-2017 Campaigns
 Digital Comic Strip: Stop Kekerasan Seksual (Stop Sexual Violence)
 Anniversary Celebration, Focus Group Discussion: Berbincang Bersama (A Collective Discussion)
 Album production and launch event: Tika and the Dissidents’ Merah (Red, Jakarta)
 Fanzine: “Suara Bersama” (Voices Together) — Booklet on gender equality in music and the arts (Released and
distributed in Jakarta, Bogor, Yogyakarta, Semarang, Bali, and Palembang)
 Photograph Exhibition: “Through Her Lens” – Featuring women stage photographers Dinda Advena, Putri Indah
Pohan, and Rendha Rais. Curated by Ika Vantiani (Jakarta)
 Digital Video Campaign: “Sebagai Lelaki, Saya Bisa” (As a Man, I Can) – Male musicians from bands Seringai,
Navicula, Endah & Rhesa, Auman, and Bonita & the HusBAND speak out on violence against women
 Photograph Exhibition: “Women, Violence, and Mental Illness in Indonesia” – Featuring documentary photographs
of institutionalized women by Gabriela Baskar (Jakarta)
 Berhenti di 25 (Stopped at 25): A documentary film about the end of Indonesian women artists’ careers due to
domestic responsibilities (Jakarta)
 Vox pop digital video series: “Apa Itu Ideal?” (Is that ideal?) — Short interviews with musicians and fans at concerts
and music festivals in Jakarta about definitions of an ideal woman
 Camp and Music Festival: “Berkemah Bersama”: Let’s Camp Together – A three-day event hosted in collaboration
with Aliansi Laki-laki Baru. The camp will feature capacity-building workshops on gender equality and women’s
rights for artists and musicians. Nightly music performances will be open to the public (Cirebon)
 Exhibition, Concert, & Roundtable Discussion: “Suara Perempuan Bali” (The Voices of Balinese Women), in
partnership with Ketemu Project (Denpasar, Bali)

19. Monitoring and Evaluation
Bersama Project’s campaigns are designed and delivered based on consensus-building
consultations and recurrent feedback from both artists and putative beneficiaries.
Monthly campaign and bimonthly project assessments are conducted for both
qualitative measurements on content development and team capacity, as well as
quantitative measurements on artist engagement and audience outreach. Results are
published in quarterly reports submitted to project stakeholders, as well as quarterly
newsletters shared via Bersama Project’s artist, audience, and media email database.
“Treat others as you want to be
treated.” —Bonita Adi, Bonita & the
HusBAND frontwomen and Bersama
Project Partner

20. “I want all women to be able to express themselves without fear of facing stereotypes
and social pressures.” — Yacko Oktaviana, hip hop artist, INTI College Marketing
Professor, Bersama Project Partner

21. Find us
bersamaproject.tumblr.com
BersamaProject
The use of art within activism creates a
bridge between the message and the
people.
Email: bersamaproject@gmail.com
Tel: +62 811 131 112 (Indonesia)
+1 321 536 1808 (USA)