Klojen (malangkota.go.id) – The existence of heritage and historical buildings has become the concern of the Acting Mayor of Malang, Dr. Ir. Wahyu Hidayat, MM. The building that has not escaped his attention at this time is the Gajayana Arts Building. Together with the relevant regional apparatus, Wahyu directly reviewed the condition of the building located on Jalan Nusakambangan, Malang City, Sunday (24/3/2024).
Refusing to forget. That is how Wahyu expressed his intention to do a historical walk to the historical buildings in Malang City in order to commemorate its 110th anniversary. "I want to remember the events and relics that we must preserve, there are many. This will also be a series of us to not only refuse to forget, we will do a walk on the anniversary later. One of them is the Gajayana Arts Building which used to be called Cendrawasih," he explained.
Not only used as a location for retracing history, Wahyu also plans to utilize the Gajayana Arts Building as a reception location for the upcoming 110th anniversary of Malang City. According to him, this building has value and stories from the past so it is worthy to be maintained and its existence and function revived. "There are many stories, a lot of history in this building. Well, in the 110th anniversary event later, we might make this arts building our reception venue. Because if not the Malang City Government itself who is aware, who cares, who else? So that it becomes a starting point to be able to utilize this building according to its function," he continued.
On this occasion, the Malang Arts Council was also present and invited to exchange ideas regarding the utilization of this legendary building. "I asked the Malang Arts Council how to provide input in the utilization of this building. With the plan to hold a reception for the anniversary of Malang City here later, of course I hope this can be a decent arts building, which can be collaborated with the arts council. Maybe various musical performances or other cultural performances can be arranged," he explained.
Wahyu also emphasized that the building will be rehabilitated without changing the original layout. "We will just renovate it without changing its original shape. Maybe we will fix the bathroom, the chairs will also be repaired, the paint. Like the make-up place is still very good, it would be a shame if it was not used," he concluded.
In addition to the Gajayana Arts Building, Wahyu plans to visit the KNPI building, Toko Oen, the station, the tax office, the BI office, and various other historical buildings in Malang City.
Meanwhile, as a regional apparatus that has the authority in maintaining the Gajayana Arts Building, the Malang City Education and Culture Office is preparing to make several repairs. In the short term, they will carry out maintenance such as repainting the building with a capacity of 700 seats.
Head of Malang City Education and Culture Office Suwarjana, SE, MM also said that he would submit a budget for building repairs in the upcoming PAK. Suwarjana said that around 40 percent of the building needed to be rehabilitated. "If yesterday the calculation for physical repairs was around one billion, not to mention the addition of a sound system and lighting that is fixed for representative performances of around Rp300 million, also for the chairs we will only replace the bursak, because the items are antiques," he said.
With the rehabilitation of the building, it is hoped that the Kesedian Gajayana Building can become a place for Malang City's art activists. "After being renovated, representative, and suitable for use, we will schedule for the appearance of fellow artists in turns, it can be music, ludruk, dance drama, ketoprak. So this can be an event for them," he concluded. (ari/yon)
