At a glance
The Indonesian Student Association of the University of Washington (ISAUW) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit cultural organization… Read full summary
- Funding received
- 2023-2024
- Large
- Awarded
- $10,000
- Funding partners
-
- Student Activities Fee (SAF)
The Indonesian Student Association of the University of Washington (ISAUW) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit cultural organization deeply committed to showcasing and celebrating Indonesian culture in the Greater Seattle area, with the overarching vision of becoming the leading Indonesian Student Association in the United States. Since its establishment in 2011, ISAUW has been hosting Keraton, an annual cultural event to promote the unique and diverse Indonesian culture and heritage through different themes.
Over the past decade, Keraton has evolved into the largest Indonesian cultural event on the West Coast and the second-largest in the US, drawing over 16,000 attendees since 2019. This year, under the captivating theme "Indonesian Pasar," translating to Indonesian traditional market, Keraton promises an immersive journey into the heart of traditional Indonesian markets, featuring authentic cuisine, traditional dance, music, fashion, and art.
Aligned with our mission, ISAUW places a significant emphasis on leadership development and community engagement. The collective efforts of our 44 dedicated members, spanning various roles under the Finance, Communication & Outreach, and Operations team, ensure the success and sustainability of Keraton.
In pursuit of environmental awareness and sustainability, ISAUW has forged a meaningful collaboration with Solar Chapter, a 501(c) organization dedicated to addressing critical environmental challenges in Indonesia and promoting sustainable practices locally. Together, we strive to raise awareness about environmental issues and support initiatives providing clean water to rural areas where resources are scarce. This year, Solar Chapter's major project "Water for Banuan," aims to increase the access to clean running water in Desa Banuan in the Insana Fafinesu District of TTU Regency, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. Our collaboration with Solar Chapter exemplifies our collective commitment to environmental stewardship and community resilience, ensuring that Keraton remains a model of sustainability and inclusivity.
The Indonesian Student Association of the University of Washington (ISAUW) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit cultural organization deeply committed to showcasing and celebrating Indonesian culture in the Greater Seattle area, with the overarching vision of becoming the leading Indonesian Student Association in the United States. Since its establishment in 2011, ISAUW has been hosting Keraton, an annual cultural event to promote the unique and diverse Indonesian culture and heritage through different themes.
Over the past decade, Keraton has evolved into the largest Indonesian cultural event on the West Coast and the second-largest in the US, drawing over 16,000 attendees since 2019. This year, under the captivating theme "Indonesian Pasar," translating to Indonesian traditional market, Keraton promises an immersive journey into the heart of traditional Indonesian markets, featuring authentic cuisine, traditional dance, music, fashion, and art.
Aligned with our mission, ISAUW places a significant emphasis on leadership development and community engagement. The collective efforts of our 44 dedicated members, spanning various roles under the Finance, Communication & Outreach, and Operations team, ensure the success and sustainability of Keraton.
In pursuit of environmental awareness and sustainability, ISAUW has forged a meaningful collaboration with Solar Chapter, a 501(c) organization dedicated to addressing critical environmental challenges in Indonesia and promoting sustainable practices locally. Together, we strive to raise awareness about environmental issues and support initiatives providing clean water to rural areas where resources are scarce. This year, Solar Chapter's major project "Water for Banuan," aims to increase the access to clean running water in Desa Banuan in the Insana Fafinesu District of TTU Regency, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. Our collaboration with Solar Chapter exemplifies our collective commitment to environmental stewardship and community resilience, ensuring that Keraton remains a model of sustainability and inclusivity.
As we persist in our pursuit of excellence and sustainability, ISAUW seeks funding support to guarantee the success of this year's Keraton. By promoting Indonesian culture, nurturing leadership, and making a positive impact on the community, ISAUW endeavors to create enduring impressions and meaningful experiences for both our members and the broader Greater Seattle area.
Jessica Fredlina
Project lead
- jessfred@uw.edu
- Affiliation
- Student Registered Student Organization (RSO)
Rick Young
Team member
- ryoung95@uw.edu
- Affiliation
- Staff
To whom it may concern,
ISAUW is a 501(c)(3) non-profit cultural organization dedicated to promoting the diverse Indonesian culture to the communities of the Greater Seattle area. ISAUW's vision is to become the leading Indonesian Student Association in the United States. We aim to achieve this by building a respectful, well-rounded, multifaceted, yet patriotic young Indonesian community in the Greater Seattle Area and across the United States.
Throughout the years, ISAUW has always put a significant emphasis on creating great leaders in our community. Every year, ISAUW hosts a cultural event called Keraton to promote the unique and diverse Indonesian culture through different themes. Keraton is a massive event, hence, the amount of involvement and commitment delivered by our officers is extraordinary.
With a shared vision to celebrate Indonesia's diverse culture and making Keraton a huge success, our 40+ members are involved in Event Organizing, Design, Creativity Management, Inventory Management, Sponsorship, Treasury, Fundraising, Marketing & Communication, Documentation, as well as Web Development. Ever since officers joined the organization in Fall, they have been committing their time and creativity to lead their teams successfully to gather what is needed for the success of Keraton; such as searching for funds, performances, food vendors, and many more. Established for over ten years, ISAUW would like to improve the legacy of our previous years and hold the most successful Keraton Indonesian Festival to date.
As the largest Indonesian cultural event on the West Coast and the second largest in the United States, Keraton has grown substantially, accumulating over 16,000 attendees since Keraton in 2019. ISAUW expects 5,000 visitors and will be showcasing the diversity of Indonesian culture through traditional food, dance, music, and art. Beyond ISAUW's purpose of entertaining and educating the community about Indonesia, we also wish to create a stellar and memorable Indonesian experience. This year's theme for Keraton is Indonesian Pasar, where we would get a glimpse of the authentic experience of Indonesian traditional markets, where the diverse culture and people of Indonesia interact in harmony. It will be an introduction to the cultural heritage of Indonesia.
We are planning to have a Coffee-tasting booth and Batik Awareness and Creation booth that we have at the festival annually, and many more booths designed to enrich the visitors' knowledge about the diverse culture of Indonesia. With this, ISAUW would like to apply for CSF funding to make Keraton possible again this year.
Beyond ISAUW's purpose of entertaining and educating the community about Indonesia, ISAUW guarantees CSF that Keraton always has and will continue to foster a blossoming future of sustainability. This year, we have decided to take a greater step towards sustainability by collaborating with Solar Chapter, a 501(c), Indonesian, UW-registered student organization based in many parts of the world that aims to spread awareness on the environmental issues happening in Indonesia to educate our community on their projects of getting clean water to rural areas in Indonesia where resources are finite.
We will also continue to promote leadership, student involvement, education about Indonesian culture, reach out to the Seattle community, and encourage positive behavior change amongst our members and the campus community. Last but not least, throughout the years, Keraton has instilled important values and taught our members essential life skills such as accountability, teamwork, and respect, which we will continue to foster through this year's event.
Request amount and budget
How the project will react to funding reductions
Keraton is a large-scale event that requires considerable amounts of preparation, dedication, and funding. Funding is one of the most crucial aspects that enables the ISAUW team to gather the proper resources to create our annual unique, authentic Indonesian cultural event. Given a 10% reduction in funding, we would have to find ways to further reduce water and electricity usage. One of the consequences would be that vendors who want to cook on-site would have to reduce their food or eliminate some of the food items. Doing so may impact the attendee's experience because they may not be able to enjoy the full experience of diving into authentic, freshly-made Indonesian cuisines. We could also make budget cuts in the facilities provided for the attendees, such as honey buckets or hand-washing stations, but that would also hamper the overall guest experience at Keraton. With a 20% funding cut, in addition to cutting down water and electricity, we would consider removing large, visually-striking decorations and modifying our event's layout to include fewer vendors. We might also need to cut down on some performances that would have a huge impact on showcasing Indonesian culture to our attendees. We would not be able to educate and spread awareness to our community as much as we intend to and this means that we would not be able to fully showcase Indonesian culture to our guests. Lastly, with a 50% budget cut, we would have to drastically scale down Keraton. We will not be able to host a headliner to perform on our stage which would drastically decrease our number of attendees. A fair amount of guests (especially the younger generation) are attracted to attend cultural events like Keraton due to the presence of a “celebrity” or a public figure that they see representing and/or promoting their culture and their heritage. Without the budget to invite a headliner, we are worried we might lose the opportunity to expose a large number of audiences to our culture. ISAUW has taken an extensive amount of time and effort to determine the most appropriate budget needed to make Keraton happen. Without sacrificing sustainability, we are hoping to be able to host our second post-pandemic Keraton. With students eager to be a part of something big, personal, and impactful to them, we would be very grateful if we were able to have full support from you.
Plans for financial longevity
The long-term management and maintenance of Keraton, our signature Indonesian festival, will be conducted through a combination of organizational strategies and financial mechanisms to ensure its sustainability and success.
Firstly, the festival is established by our dedicated committee, ISAUW, which has been strongly active in spreading Indonesian culture since 2011. Every year, ISAUW recruits new officers during the Fall quarter, which is when the progress leading up to Keraton 2024 begins. This committee oversees all aspects of the festival, including operations, finances, as well as outreach. The different departments hold regular progress meetings weekly to discuss project progress, address any issues/challenges, and make decisions regarding next steps. Then, ISAUW holds a general meeting every quarter so that all active officers of the organization are up to date with the latest progress of each departments.
In terms of funding, ISAUW is seeking diverse revenue streams to ensure financial stability of KERATON throughout the year-long progress of organizing the event. This includes seeking funds from UW, sponsorship agreements with businesses/organizations interested in supporting cultural events, ticket sales for smaller-scale events leading up to Keraton, merchandise sales, and other fundraising efforts, such as selling our homemade Banana Pudding.
Furthermore, ISAUW maintains a strong partnership with the University of Washington Alumni Indonesia (UWAIN). This collaboration fosters a tight-knit community of Huskies who have experienced Keraton firsthand. Leveraging this connection, we receive invaluable advice, both constructive and critical, which informs our decision-making processes and enhances the sustainability of Keraton. This year, our engagement with UWAIN has intensified virtually, with members from Indonesia actively supporting our ISAUW students in their academic pursuits and providing invaluable insights into Keraton's development. Through these collaborative efforts, we are confident that Keraton will become a perennial event, refining its offerings, learning from experiences, and drawing inspiration from our collective wisdom.
Problem statement
Energy use
Electricity usage
Keraton 2024 seeks to reduce power consumption by, among other things, utilizing lower-voltage lighting at night and ceasing to use light when it isn't needed, as well as by eliminating lights entirely during the day in favor of the sun.
Paperless transactions
Keraton will minimize carbon footprint by utilizing a seamless touch-free paperless payment system. We're planning on using Square's touchless payment reader and system that uses customer's smartphones or cards to connect with our POS devices through RFID.
Carbon footprint
Keraton 2024 is determined to mitigate several Sustainability challenges. During previous years of Keraton, we've utilized unsustainable food trucks for some of our vendors. In our efforts to reduce carbon emissions from these food trucks, we will only be fully utilizing booths at Keraton instead of food trucks to improve Keraton 2023's lack of sustainability.
Community development
Keraton gives an opportunity for Indonesians, both raised in the United States and in their motherland, to celebrate their shared heritage by promoting volunteerism and community engagement between ISAUW members tasked with planning Keraton and the Seattle community. Examples of community engagement include partnering with non-profit student run organizations such as Solar Chapter that help and develop remote areas in Indonesia through sustainable methods. Examples of volunteerism activities include picking up trash within the UW community before and after the Keraton event.
Cultural representation
With the Indonesian community being greatly underrepresented in the United States, Keraton is one of the most impactful ways we can promote our community externally. As the second largest annual Indonesian festival in the United States, more than 5000 non-Indonesians could learn more about the culture of one the Asia's most vast countries annually.
Waste
Misplaced trash was one of our largest contributors towards a lack of sustainability last Keraton, thus we will double the number of trash cans and recycling bins in Keraton in order to ensure that waste is properly disposed of, and items are recycled if they can be. At Keraton 2024, we would also like to promote Sustainability amongst our volunteer crew, hence before Keraton 2024 we will hold a seminar reminding the volunteers on the importance of sustainability.
Food
We will highly encourage vendors to use prepackaged goods to minimize food waste and spread of COVID-19, but special requests might be made by some vendors to maintain the authenticity of their cooking by making cultural food on the spot.
Water
Clean water is wasted a lot on washing cooking equipment when vendors choose to cook on the spot. Since we're encouraging prepackaged food, we can minimize water usage by using sustainable water containers instead of huge water tanks.
Measure the impacts
Paperless transaction
The number of papers saved from shifting to paperless transactions can be roughly counted by the number of transactions occurring during Keraton. Assuming that there's 13,000 visitors and each visitor purchases at least 1 transaction, we already saved 13,000 paper receipts from being made.
Carbon emissions
This year we aim to reduce 3⁄4 of our carbon emissions from that of Keraton four years ago by requiring all food trucks to use our given booths.
Waste
For Keraton 2024, we are shifting to 99% compostable utensils and packaging. While this is an important metric, arguably the largest and most important metric for Keraton 2024 is educating the students involved in Keraton on the importance of Sustainability. Coming from Indonesia, a country that rarely puts sustainability as a priority, we would like to educate officers, volunteers, and the general public on the importance of recycling and composting. This fits in line with ISAUW's vision which is to develop a new youth generation of Indonesia, and sustainability is an aspect that we would like to bring up with the Indonesia community in Seattle.
As for a more direct approach towards vendors, the best way to prevent waste going through the wrong bin is to actively discourage misplacement of waste. We will remind each vendor that for every waste that's not put properly, they will get charged accordingly when the waste management bill comes to ISAUW.
Community development & cultural representation
At the end of Keraton, we would ask both attendees and event organizers a series of questions that asked about their experience, satisfaction, and how much they learned about Indonesia's diverse culture. We would also make a Keraton recap digitally available through our Youtube channel, Instagram page, and website to further quantify people's experience.
Food & water
By reducing the number of food being cooked on the spot by half, we could reduce the number of water required by about half. The typical restaurant uses 7,000 gallons of water a day. Assuming that all the 15 vendors we'd be having would contribute to the water waste of a restaurant, we could mitigate water waste by at least 3,500 gallons since at least half of the food will be prepackaged.
Education and outreach goals
One of the biggest plans for outreach for Keraton 2024 would be to promote it in smaller scale events that ISAUW holds in the academic year leading up to the event in Spring. ISAUW holds various big and small scale events that are open to the public throughout the year, including:
- Seattle 101: An orientation event to welcome incoming Indonesian students that covers the essentials of living overseas and what to expect before coming to Seattle, followed by a Q&A session. Seattle 101 is open to parents, families, and returning students.
- Seattle Bingo Tour: An event that introduces UW international students to Seattle, from the UW campus to the Space Needle and Pike's Place in downtown. It's a great way for new students to explore the city and meet fellow students in a relaxed atmosphere.
- Friendsgiving: Thanksgiving dinner hosted by ISAUW, intended to introduce fellow Indonesian students to the American Thanksgiving culture, as well as to celebrate the season of thankfulness and togetherness. The event also acted as a gathering for the Indonesian community where we dined with homemade food and played games.
- Catalyst Career Fair: A collaboration event with Catalyst's core team and PERMIAS Seattle as we presented an opportunity for students and young professionals to kickstart their careers early. This event included keynote and breakout sessions with special guests, practical career planning talks, speed networking with other professionals and students, and giving the students mentorship opportunities.
- Winter Ball–Retro Night: A night filled with food and company as we get serenaded by amazing musical performances by our talented UW Indonesians. This program aims to strengthen community ties by bringing people together through food, music, dance, icebreaker games, and recreation.
Information on the Keraton 2024 festival will also be distributed throughout the University of Washington (UW) community via multiple channels, taking advantage of extensive planning and partnership arrangements that form its backbone. University communications will play an integral part in this endeavor, using official channels like email newsletters, the UW event calendar and coverage in The Daily to increase the visibility of events among students, faculty and staff. Moreover, we will also actively promote Keraton 2024 on campus as we hold tabling sessions in the Red Square of UW every week.
Social media and digital marketing cannot be underestimated in today's connected world. Social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube will be leveraged fully, with the Indonesian Student Association at the University of Washington (ISAUW) and Solar Chapter using them for engaging content, timely updates, and interactive posts that create excitement among their target communities.
Outreach of this event will be further increased through strategic partnership networks, including collaboration with Solar Chapter and potential alliances with cultural and environmental organizations both inside and outside of the university. These partnerships will allow for cross-promotion and shared communications to maximize event reach, and organic channels like word of mouth and community engagement will play a crucial role. Information sessions, workshops and the active involvement of both students and faculty in organizing the event should naturally create conversations about Keraton among members of the UW community and spread its awareness. By employing various communication strategies in concert with one another, these strategies should ensure that this festival not only reaches a broad audience but also connects meaningfully and impactfully with its target demographic.
UW students, faculty and staff can explore an abundance of ways to participate in and support the Keraton festival through avenues that emphasize educational enrichment, cultural immersion and environmental sustainability advocacy. Volunteerism is at the core of our festival's philosophy, inviting students and faculty alike to volunteer their services toward its logistics, planning and execution - creating an unparalleled sense of ownership within our community. Educational booths and workshops, such as those dedicated to Batik Making or Indonesian coffee tasting, give festival goers an experiential way to gain more knowledge of Indonesia's rich cultural history and sustainable practices - closely aligning with the festival's educational objectives.
Furthermore, Solar Chapter brings an additional element of environmental awareness with presentations on their clean water initiative for the Banuan village in Indonesia inviting festival goers to get involved and support important sustainability projects in Indonesia. Engaging attendees on such an intimate level sets the foundation for more effective cultural and environmental advocacy efforts, as attendees become motivated by immersive experiences to champion Indonesian cultural heritage and environmental sustainability - creating lasting impacts beyond the festival's duration. Additionally, buying authentic items like Batik clothing and sustainably certified coffee beans directly benefits artisans and farmers involved with the festival, furthering its commitment to sustainability and cultural preservation. Through such various channels, Keraton festival provides not only an enriching cultural experience but also fosters an engaged community actively supporting meaningful causes.
Student involvement
Keraton always has and continues to be a primarily student-led event. To prepare for this, ISAUW seeks to enlist driven, committed individuals. With over 40+ members, ISAUW officers use their skills and gifts to ensure Keraton is a success. This is done through several different specialized groups: Event Organizing, Design, Creativity Management, Inventory Management, Sponsorship, Treasury, Fundraising, Market & Communication, Documentation, and Web Development. Officers join in the Fall and put in time and effort over the school year in creating Keraton.
Students are involved in all aspects of planning Keraton. Logistics, such as renting spaces and equipment to ensure safety and comfort for the thousands of guests we are hosting, are professionally handled by officers. Officers also lead the marketing and promotion of the event, utilizing their many creative talents and people skills to reach out to as many people in the Greater Seattle area that would enjoy the activities provided in Keraton. Funding is entirely student gathered, as Officers both plan and run exciting fundraising events as well as reach out to sponsors and partners. Such events include our Friendsgiving event, a Thanksgiving dinner hosted by ISAUW to introduce fellow Indonesian students to the American Thanksgiving culture and Winter Ball, a night that aims to strengthen community ties by bringing people together through food, music, dance, icebreaker games, and recreation. Other fundraisers include our banana pudding fundraiser, where all officers work to make single-serving banana pudding jars and sell them to gain funds.
For Keraton, ISAUW receives volunteer help from both Indonesian and non-Indonesian UW students alike. ISAUW also recruits student volunteers from diverse community colleges and universities in the Greater Seattle Area, including Edmonds Community College, Shoreline Community College, Bellevue College, and others. These volunteers assist food vendors, run games and activities, serve as a guide to festival attendees, and help with set-up and tear-down.
ISAUW is proud to partner with fellow student-led organization Solar Chapter, whose mission is to holistically aid the development of rural areas in Indonesia through sustainable ways. Members of Solar Chapter open a booth in Keraton to gain support for and spread awareness about their current project: Clean Water for Banuan.
In addition to student volunteers, almost half of the food vendors in Keraton are contributed by other Student Organization Bodies from various community colleges and universities, such as The Indonesian Student Association of Seattle University (ISASU), Bellevue Indonesian Club (BIC), Indonesian Student Association of North Seattle College (ISANS), Indonesian Student Association in the United States in Seattle (PERMIAS Seattle), and more.