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This is a batik that brings together two aspects of an industry that are often treated as poles: creative industries, and informality . In Indonesia, the government wants to promote creative industries and has put forward several strategies to promote these. What is yet unclear is in how far these strategies take into account existing informal creative industries - such as this Batik production, but also arts and performance, music, etc. We also don't know how these strategies take into account the importance of these informal creative industries for local communities and the city. I am currently working on a project - INECIS - where we try to understand this interaction between informal and creative industries and government strategies. It highlights potential mismatches but also opportunities to promote local economic growth by supporting existing strengths. We are learning greatly from interviews and surveys with the owners and managers of these industries and informal businesses, and in the discussions with the policy makers in the city.
