IdeaFest, Indonesia's largest creative festival, returns this year with a concept and speakers that are no less inspiring than last year. With the theme (Cult)ivate The Culture, IdeaFest will be held for three days, October 31-November 2, 2025, at the Jakarta International Convention Center (JICC) and August 1-3, 2025, at Grand City Mall and Convex Surabaya. This year's theme demonstrates IdeaFest's commitment to encouraging all creative communities in Indonesia to promote local culture—combined with contemporary relevance—to the public. Desy Bachir, Co-Chair of IdeaFest, believes that culture can fuel the advancement of Indonesia's creative economy. Furthermore, she continued, a UNESCO report shows that a nation's economic value can increase if it has strong cultural roots. By choosing the theme (Cult)ivate The Culture, she hopes that Indonesians will play an active role in advancing their own culture. "Together with cross-disciplinary Braintrusts, IdeaFest hopes this festival can spark the birth of new initiatives and innovations based on local culture, growing from the inspiration, collaboration, and energy of creative industry players," said Desy at the IdeaFest 2025 press conference at Plaza Indonesia, Jakarta (July 23rd).
With IdeaFest 2025, she aims to emphasize that culture is no longer an inanimate object considered merely ancient and heritage. Instead, she wants to emphasize that culture is a living, moving thing. Therefore, she hopes for active contributions from all parties to make culture the foundation of the creative economy in Indonesia. IdeaFest, Desy said, always highlights new speakers to take the podium at the creative festival. It's no surprise that IdeaFest 2025 will feature 600 speakers in 140 inspiring, cross-disciplinary sessions. The presence of these diverse speakers aims to open new avenues of exploration, foster innovation, and strengthen impactful collaborations. They are experts in diverse fields such as film, music, fashion, technology, politics, food and beverage (F&B), comedy, sports, and more.
