BENTARA BUDAYA AND THE MAKING OF A HYBRID CULTURAL SPACE

Abstract

This article examines Bentara Budaya Yogyakarta (BBY), a cultural institution under the Kompas Gramedia media conglomerate, as a case of a corporate-sponsored cultural space that provides a platform for marginalized artistic practices. BBY has long functioned as more than a conventional art gallery. It gives space for traditional and lesser-known artists despite its limited financial resources. Drawing on the concepts of boundary organization and cultural intermediation, the study analyzes how BBY negotiates tensions between corporate rationality and artistic communities. It also examines how BBY translates local traditions into contemporary forms shaped by global influence, and sustain legitimacy among artists. Data are based on in-depth interviews with two BBY staff members and analyzed using Miles and Huberman’s Interactive Model. Five key themes emerge: corporate patronage as a cultural mission, the creation of alternative cultural spaces, translation of tradition and modernity, trust and reciprocity within a workshop ethos, and place-specific identity rooted in Yogyakarta’s art ecosystem. The findings suggest that BBY’s hybrid position—neither fully corporate nor fully grassroots—enables it to act as a site of cultural dialogue, to create trust, to revalorize marginalized arts, and to support Kompas Gramedia’s corporate social responsibility agenda, while also fostering the multisensuous encounters through which cultural value is experienced.