Five traditional puppeteers from Ubud, Gianyar Regency, Bali, are joining the International Puppet Festival in Nanchong, China, on May 31-June 7, 2014.

“The puppet festival in China is followed by all puppeteers in the world,” said I Wayan Tunjung, representing four other puppeteers in Gianyar, on Thursday.

Along with I Gede Suartana, I Nyoman Karang Mustika, I Komang Sudiarsa and Jennifer Goodlander, they will perform Mahabharata and Ramayana epic story in the festival.

Jennifer is a professor of theater and drama from Indiana University, United States, who since 2008 lives and settles in Ubud to learn puppetry.

Wayan Tunjung considers the international festival as an attempt to introduce traditional culture that starts to be marginalized. “The interest of the younger generation towards the art of the puppet show is decreasing. In fact, puppets have been defined by UNESCO as the WBD (world cultural heritage),” he said.

According to Wayan Tunjung, it needs breakthroughs and strategies so that young people are again interested in the puppets show. “One of them might be to include puppet lesson to the school subject,” he said.

Meanwhile, Gianyar Regency Secretary, Ida Bagus Gaga Adi Saputra, said that the government has issued policies in favor of cultural traditions, especially puppet.

“We’ve committed to provide space for artists in every cultural preservation activities through the arts performance,” he said.

He gives the opportunity for the artists in Gianyar regency to perform in turn on each event, such as yadya (religious ritual).

“In October we will hold a workshop on puppet so young generations will be enlightened about the importance of puppetry. We are currently finalizing the workshop mechanism so that the art of puppetry could rise again and interesting for young people,” said the Regional Secretary.