Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Rapid Fund/Swarajati:Pendokumentasian Karya Seni Musik Tradisional Jawa (ID: 23645350)/Final Report
Application type: Standard application
Part 1: Project and impact
1. Describe the implemented activities and results achieved. Additionally, share which approaches were most effective in supporting you to achieve the results. (required)
The project was implemented through two main components: documentation of traditional Javanese gamelan performances and community capacity building through Wikipedia editing workshops.
For the documentation activities, our team consisted of six people: two experienced volunteers who coordinated the project and four new volunteers who supported the technical aspects of audio and video documentation. This approach allowed experienced contributors to mentor new volunteers while expanding the community's documentation skills.
We collaborated closely with Karawitan Martatijasa, a traditional gamelan ensemble based in Klaten with approximately 30 members representing multiple generations, from senior musicians to younger performers. This collaboration was particularly valuable because a complete Javanese gamelan performance requires the participation of around 20 musicians, accompanied by a sindhèn (female vocalist) and wiraswara (male vocalist). Through this partnership, we were able to document not only the musical performances but also the collaborative nature of Javanese traditional music, where many individuals work together to create a single performance.
The documentation sessions took place at Dalem Martatijasa, a traditional Javanese house in Klaten that preserves a complete set of Javanese gamelan instruments. Conducting the documentation in this authentic cultural setting added historical and cultural value to the recordings while ensuring that the performances reflected their original context.
In addition to documentation, we organized two Javanese Wikipedia writing workshops focusing on Gendhing Jawa (traditional Javanese musical compositions). The first workshop was held on 15 March 2026 in collaboration with the Student Association of Javanese Language and Literature Education at Universitas Widya Dharma Klaten. The second workshop took place on 10 May 2026 in collaboration with the Student Association of Javanese Language Education at Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta. Each workshop was attended by 15 participants, resulting in a total of 30 participants.
The most effective approach in achieving the project's results was combining partnerships with local cultural practitioners and academic institutions. Collaborating with an active gamelan community ensured the authenticity and quality of the documentation, while partnerships with universities enabled us to engage new contributors who were interested in Javanese language, culture, and Wikimedia projects. Furthermore, involving new volunteers directly in the documentation process provided practical learning opportunities and strengthened local capacity for future cultural documentation initiatives.
2. Documentation of your impact. Please use space below to share links that help tell your story, impact, and evaluation. (required)
Share links to:
- Project page on Meta-Wiki or any other Wikimedia project
- Dashboards and tools that you used to track contributions
- Some photos or videos from your event. Remember to share access.
You can also share links to:
- Important social media posts
- Surveys and their results
- Infographics and sound files
- Examples of content edited on Wikimedia projects
Additionally, share the materials and resources that you used in the implementation of your project. (required)
For example:
- Training materials and guides
- Presentations and slides
- Work processes and plans
- Any other materials your team has created or adapted and can be shared with others
3. To what extent do you agree with the following statements regarding the work carried out with this Rapid Fund? You can choose “not applicable” if your work does not relate to these goals. Required. Select one option per question. (required)
| A. Bring in participants from underrepresented groups | Strongly agree |
| B. Create a more inclusive and connected culture in our community | Strongly agree |
| C. Develop content about underrepresented topics/groups | Strongly agree |
| D. Develop content from underrepresented perspectives | Strongly agree |
| E. Encourage the retention of editors | Agree |
| F. Encourage the retention of organizers | Strongly agree |
| G. Increased participants' feelings of belonging and connection to the movement | Agree |
| F. Other (optional) |
Part 2: Learning
4. In your application, you outlined some learning questions. What did you learn from these learning questions when you implemented your project? How do you hope to use this learnings in the future? You can recall these learning questions below. (required)
You can recall these learning questions below: Melalui pelaksanaan proyek ini, kami berupaya memperoleh pemahaman yang lebih mendalam mengenai tingkat kesadaran masyarakat terhadap keberadaan dan manfaat proyek-proyek Wikimedia. Selain itu, kegiatan ini juga ditujukan untuk mengidentifikasi kapasitas keterampilan masyarakat dalam berkontribusi di Wikipedia, sebagai bagian dari strategi pengembangan potensi serta pelestarian kebudayaan lokal melalui pemanfaatan platform digital yang kolaboratif.
During the implementation of this project, one of our main learning questions was to better understand the level of public awareness of Wikimedia projects and the community's capacity to contribute to them, particularly in the context of preserving Javanese traditional music.
Our experience showed that, although many people were familiar with Wikipedia as a source of information, most participants and members of the local community in Klaten and Yogyakarta had very limited knowledge of the broader Wikimedia ecosystem. They were generally unaware that Wikimedia Commons provides an open platform for preserving cultural heritage through freely licensed photographs, audio recordings, and videos, or that Wikipedia can be used as a collaborative space to document and share knowledge about traditional arts such as *gendhing* Jawa.
We also learned that many participants were interested in contributing but lacked the technical skills and confidence to edit Wikipedia or upload media to Wikimedia Commons. Through the workshops and hands-on mentoring, we found that direct guidance and practical exercises were much more effective than simply introducing Wikimedia projects through presentations. Participants became more confident when they could immediately practice editing articles and understand how their contributions could support the preservation of local culture.
These findings reinforce the importance of community outreach and digital literacy activities as essential components of cultural preservation. In the future, we hope to build on these lessons by organizing more training programs, expanding collaborations with universities and cultural communities, and developing a sustainable network of local volunteers who can continue documenting and sharing Javanese cultural heritage through Wikimedia projects. We also believe that introducing Wikimedia as a practical tool for safeguarding local knowledge can encourage more communities to actively participate in preserving Indonesia's diverse cultural heritage.
5. Did anything unexpected or surprising happen when implementing your activities? This can include both positive and negative situations. What did you learn from those experiences? (required)
One unexpected challenge during the implementation of the project was related to the scale of the traditional gamelan performances. During the proposal development, we initially estimated that around 10 musicians would be involved in each documentation session. After the grant was approved, we revised our implementation plan to make the best use of the available budget. However, once we began working directly with the Karawitan Martatijasa ensemble, we learned that a complete performance of Javanese gamelan requires approximately 25–30 performers, including instrumentalists, a sindhèn (female vocalist), and wiraswara (male vocalist). This was an important realization because documenting the music authentically meant involving the full ensemble rather than a smaller group. Faced with this situation, we decided to prioritize cultural authenticity over reducing the number of performers. As a result, we maintained the participation of the complete ensemble and adjusted other parts of the project budget. One consequence of this decision was that the final documentation focused on high-quality audio recordings rather than producing edited video documentation, since the remaining budget was no longer sufficient to cover video editing software or professional editing support. This experience taught us an important lesson about planning projects involving traditional performing arts. Unlike many other forms of cultural documentation, ensemble-based musical traditions require a large number of participants, which has significant implications for budgeting and logistics. In future projects, we will allocate more realistic resources for performer participation and production costs while maintaining flexibility to adapt when new information emerges during implementation. Despite these challenges, we believe that prioritizing an authentic representation of Javanese gamelan was the right decision, as it better supports the long-term goal of preserving this cultural heritage through Wikimedia projects.
6. What is your plan to share your project learnings and results with other community members? If you have already done it, describe how. (required)
We plan to share the experiences, lessons learned, and outcomes of this project with both local and international Wikimedia communities. We believe that documenting our successes as well as the challenges we encountered can provide valuable insights for other community members who are interested in preserving intangible cultural heritage through Wikimedia projects.
At the local level, we will share our experiences with Wikimedia volunteers, cultural communities, and university partners to encourage similar initiatives focused on documenting traditional arts and expanding participation in Wikimedia projects. We also intend to share practical lessons on collaborating with cultural practitioners and organizing documentation activities for traditional performing arts.
At the international level, we hope to present this project at future national and international Wikimedia conferences, should the opportunity arise. By sharing our experience with a broader audience, we aim to contribute to discussions on documenting intangible cultural heritage, engaging new contributors, and building partnerships between Wikimedia communities and local cultural organizations.
In addition, the project's outputs, including freely licensed media on Wikimedia Commons, Wikipedia articles, and project documentation will remain publicly available so that other communities can learn from, reuse, and build upon our work.
Part 3: Metrics
7. Wikimedia Metrics results. (required)
In your application, you set some Wikimedia targets in numbers (Wikimedia metrics). In this section, you will describe the achieved results and provide links to the tools used.
| Target | Results | Comments and tools used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of participants | 35 | ||
| Number of editors | 35 | ||
| Number of organizers | 5 |
| Wikimedia project | Target | Result - Number of created pages | Result - Number of improved pages |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wikipedia | 30 | ||
| Wikimedia Commons | 30 | ||
| Wikidata | 30 | ||
| Wiktionary | |||
| Wikisource | |||
| Wikimedia Incubator | |||
| Translatewiki | |||
| MediaWiki | |||
| Wikiquote | |||
| Wikivoyage | |||
| Wikibooks | |||
| Wikiversity | |||
| Wikinews | |||
| Wikispecies | |||
| Wikifunctions or Abstract Wikipedia |
8. Other Metrics results.
In your proposal, you could also set Other Metrics targets. Please describe the achieved results and provide links to the tools used if you set Other Metrics in your application.
| Other Metrics name | Metrics Description | Target | Result | Tools and comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
9. Did you have any difficulties collecting data to measure your results? (required)
9.1. Please state what difficulties you had. How do you hope to overcome these challenges in the future? Do you have any recommendations for the Foundation to support you in addressing these challenges? (required)
Part 4: Financial reporting
[edit]10. Please state the total amount spent in your local currency. (required)
11. Please state the total amount spent in US dollars. (required)
12. Report the funds spent in the currency of your fund. (required)
12.2. If you have not already done so in your financial spending report, please provide information on changes in the budget in relation to your original proposal. (optional)
13. Do you have any unspent funds from the Fund?
No
13.1. Please list the amount and currency you did not use and explain why.
N/A
13.2. What are you planning to do with the underspent funds?
N/A
13.3. Please provide details of hope to spend these funds.
N/A
14.1. Are you in compliance with the terms outlined in the fund agreement?
Yes
14.2. Are you in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations as outlined in the grant agreement?
Yes
14.3. Are you in compliance with provisions of the United States Internal Revenue Code (“Code”), and with relevant tax laws and regulations restricting the use of the Funds as outlined in the grant agreement? In summary, this is to confirm that the funds were used in alignment with the WMF mission and for charitable/nonprofit/educational purposes.
Yes
15. If you have additional recommendations or reflections that don’t fit into the above sections, please write them here. (optional)