The birth of the first Institute of the Arts of the country, in Yogyakarta was not merely a coincidence. Previously, the city had three famous Academies of Arts, namely:
Academy of Fine Arts (ASRI), Academy of Music. (AMI) - Est. – 1952, Academy of Dance (ASTI) - Est. – 1961
Yogyakarta as the cradle of Javanese Art and culture is just a right place for ISI. There are a lot of local artists, some of them are trained traditionally but are loaded with talent, become well-known charismatic artists.
The leading position of Karaton Yogyakarta and Puro Pakualaman are very important for art and culture.
The preservation and development of the position of Yogya as a metropolitan and International Tourist city should be used wisely to promote art and culture, among other also for the benefit of art institutions. ISI with its International Cultural contacts, plays a very important role to promote Indonesia’s good name and credibility.
Many of the alumni of the above academies are artists with great name in the country or even have international reputation in their specific subjects such as:
Painters : Nyoman Gunarsa, Widayat, Fajar Sidik, Aming Prayitno.
Sculptors : Saptoto, Edy Sunarso, Kasman, Anusapati.
Traditional Dancers : Ben Suharto, Th. Suharti, Trinardono, Mardjijo, Bambing, Hermien K, Inul, Hersapandi
Contemporary : Miroto, Nyoman Sudewi, Setyastuti
Musicians : FX. Soetopo, Amir Pasaribu, L. Manik, RAJ Soedjasmin.
Gamelan Musicians : Trustho, I Wayan Senen, Djoko Waluyo.
Theatre Artists : J.B. Wijaya, Agus Lelur, Sri Hardjanto, Trisusilowati
Traditional Theatre artist : Kasidi Hadiprayitno, Suharyoso
Crafts Artist : Suhadji, Narno, Tukiyo, Noor Sudiyati
Printmakers : Herry Wibowo, Sun Ardi
Photographers : Risman Marah, Parsuki.
Some prominent artists of Yogya are from the above academies, to name a few are: Prof. Dr. Soedarsono, Bagong Kussudiarjo, Amri Yahya etc who have a long list of art contribution and accomplishment.
In accordance with modern educational system, as an effort to further step-up the quality of art teaching, those 3 academies were merged in 1984 to be under one roof, namely ISI – The Indonesia Institute of the Arts.
