House of Arie Smit was originally a villa called Villa Sanggingan that belonged to my family. House of Arie Smit was Arie Smit’s last port before he died. He spent nearly the last twenty five years of his life (1991 - 2016) at Villa Sanggingan. His room and a few of his belongings are safely stored and well cared for. My wife - Dr. Putu Amy Kardi who is also a graduate of the University of Indonesia’s College of Medicine - and I who inherited the property initially just wanted to immortalize the place as a memorial for Arie Smit. The idea to preserve the place was only to reminisce about a legendary Dutch-born Balinese painter. We thought if the property was merely to remember Arie Smit then he will only live in the past. What my wife and I wanted was for House of Arie Smit to be able to give meaning to the future. In his physical form, Arie Smit was able to become one with nature the time his body was cremated and his ashes spread in the Matahari Terbit beach. However, we want his spirit live on: the sincere love he had for nature and the Balinese culture despite not born as a Balinese, and his genuine love for fostering Balinese children’s talents in painting by providing the tools and knowledge by going out of his way sparing a time of his days as an invaluable artist to teach the children to paint.
The birth process of the Young Artist style is real life proof that can be used as a role model. Village children who posses a hidden talent are provided materials to illustrate. They are directed and nurtured until they have the ability and skills to produce art. These artwork produced can then become creative economy. It is hoped that their creative economy products can become one of the sources of income that can provide prosperity. Until now the House of Arie Smit has fostered a community of children in marginal areas, starting with children in Blandingan Kintamani, Bali. Meanwhile there exist communities of children outside of Bali in Dusun Kenari, Warlouka, Nusa Tenggara Timur.
We thought if the property was merely to remember Arie Smit then he will only live in the past. What we wanted was for House of Arie Smit to be able to give meaning to the future. We want his spirit live on : the sincere love he had for nature and the culture and his genuine love for fostering children’s talents in painting
Idealist thinking must be realized. If you only focus on the idea of idealism without any sort of creative process to realize, then the most this can be is a dream. Idealism without stepping on the earth will only die on the way. Even if it does live it will be brief and short-lived. On the way, the bearers run out of breath and die. We want idealism to be realized in a sustainable way.
Balinese ancestors passed down the necessity of balance between pikayun (thinking/idea), pedagingan (finance/logistics) and pemargi (execution). Pikayun, which is the mission and vision of HofAS, adheres to Arie Smit’s idealism spirit. Empowering children in the arts and culture so that they grow in love with the land on which the earth stands. Pemargi gurantees that all the source and energy that we posses are able to be activated. Where can pedagingan be found? This matter will require the formulation for a clever strategy. From here, we want to enforce the concept of creative-sociopreneurship. Sociopreneurship is not a business that only take profit, there is a social element in it. Businesses not aimed at enriching oneself contributes to the welfare of many people.
Who becomes this sociopreneur? Various professions exist in the community that become the main handle of the lives of those who carry out their profession. Besides that, everyone also has a hobby that can often be economically productive. People with identical hobbies often shapes/owns a community of their own.
Now, people in these communities are encouraged to spare a portion of their side revenue as pedagingan - money set aside to finance logistics - until this seka demen communities become sociopreneurs. Thus, these communities are able to not only make profit from doing their hobbies (in addition to their earnings from their primary professions) but also make an impact on other communities around them.
Dr. Pande Made K. Suteja, SpU