As Nuanu Creative City continues to grow as a creative destination in Bali, creating meaningful social impact for communities across Tabanan remains an integral part of its long-term development. For Nuanu, growth is measured not only by the expansion of new spaces, businesses, and economic opportunities, but also by the tangible benefits experienced by the communities surrounding its ecosystem.
One of the latest initiatives made possible through this commitment is the rebuilding of the home of Biang Sayu, a resident of Bengkel Village, Tabanan. The project provided her with a safer and more dignified home after her previous house was found to be no longer suitable to support her daily living needs.
The home reconstruction, however, was not the beginning of Nuanu's support. Prior to the project, the Nuanu Social Fund (NSF) had been assisting Biang Sayu through a range of essential aid tailored to her daily needs, including food supplies, adult diapers, and access to eye examinations to help address the challenges she faced due to cataracts.
Through this ongoing assistance, the Nuanu Social Fund team identified that her living conditions required a more comprehensive solution. This led to the initiative to rebuild her home, creating a safer, more comfortable, and more suitable living environment that could better support her overall well-being.
The Nuanu Social Fund is a social impact fund supported by contributions from businesses and projects across the Nuanu ecosystem. Through NSF, a portion of the area's growth is reinvested into surrounding communities through programs focused on social welfare, culture, education, environmental sustainability, and community development.
Throughout 2025, the Nuanu Social Fund distributed more than IDR 5.6 billion to support initiatives that reached over 14,600 beneficiaries across Bali. These programs span cultural preservation, education, healthcare, community empowerment, and improvements to local infrastructure.
For Nuanu, the rebuilding of Biang Sayu's home reflects this approach in practice. The initiative originated from a genuine community need identified through direct engagement and was made possible through the collaboration between the Nuanu Social Fund, Luna Beach Club, and the Bengkel Village Government, resulting in a safe and dignified home for Biang Sayu.
"For the Nuanu Social Fund, this initiative is about much more than building a house. It is about ensuring that the real needs of surrounding communities remain at the heart of every social program we develop," said Auditya Sari, Head of Nuanu Social Fund. "Through continuous dialogue and collaboration, we strive to better understand the challenges communities face so that the support we provide can create meaningful and lasting impact."
The collaboration also demonstrates how projects within the Nuanu ecosystem can collectively contribute to broader social solutions. As one of the businesses supporting the Nuanu Social Fund, Luna Beach Club took part in the rebuilding initiative as part of its shared commitment to the surrounding community.
"As one of the contributors to the Nuanu Social Fund, Luna Beach Club sees its participation in this initiative as part of our shared responsibility to ensure that growth within the area also creates value for the communities around us," said James Ephraims, Founder of Luna Beach Club. "Being part of this initiative has been a truly meaningful experience for us. We are grateful for the opportunity to connect with the local community and contribute in a tangible way," added Elly, representative of Luna Beach Club.
From the perspective of Bengkel Village, the rebuilding of Biang Sayu's home serves as an example of how partnerships between the private sector, local government, and the community can effectively address local needs.
"For Bengkel Village, the rebuilding of Biang Sayu's home demonstrates the importance of partnerships built on long-term care and commitment," said I Nyoman Wahya Biantara, Head of Bengkel Village. "Collaboration between the private sector, village government, and the community is key to ensuring that residents' needs can be addressed in a meaningful and effective way."
Following the completion of the construction, the new home was blessed through a melaspas ceremony, a traditional Balinese ritual that symbolizes the purification of a building before it is occupied. The ceremony marked an important milestone in the process and a new beginning for Biang Sayu as she moved into a safer and more dignified home.
Looking ahead, the Nuanu Social Fund will continue developing programs that respond directly to the evolving needs of communities across Tabanan and Bali. Through collaborative partnerships, Nuanu aims to ensure that the growth of its creative ecosystem continues hand in hand with the well-being of the communities that are part of its journey.
PHOTO Credit: Nuanu Creative City
For any media enquiry, please contact: pr@nuanu.com
Running from 3 June to 12 July 2026, FOTO Bali Festival 2026, hosted by Nuanu Creative City, continues to expand beyond exhibitions as the photography industry across Indonesia and Southeast Asia increasingly calls for stronger access, collaboration, and long-term support systems for practitioners.
“For Nuanu, hosting FOTO Bali Festival is about supporting the ecosystem around creative practice,” said Lev Kroll, CEO of Nuanu Creative City. “Photography needs more than exhibition spaces. It needs collaboration, public engagement, institutional support, and opportunities for practitioners to connect across disciplines and regions.”
At a time when photographers and lens-based practitioners need stronger access to platforms, networks, mentorship, visibility, and long-term support, the festival offers a working example of how public–private collaboration can create meaningful opportunities for artistic practice.
Now in its second edition, FOTO Bali Festival 2026 presents AFTERIMAGE, curated by Kurniadi Widodo and Putu Sridiniari, with 38 artists from 24 countries across exhibitions, photobooks, multimedia works, talks, workshops, screenings, and public programmes.
This year, the festival’s ecosystem-building approach is reflected through three major collaborations: MTN Seni Budaya, a national talent management programme under the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Indonesia; Institut Seni Indonesia Denpasar, one of Bali’s key arts education institutions; and Bali Motion Club, an independent creative community working across visual culture, moving image, music, and experimental formats.
Together, these collaborations bring more than 58 Indonesian artists and practitioners into the wider festival programme, including 23 artists through MTN Seni Budaya’s LIGHTS IN FRAME, 21 artists through the ISI Denpasar collaboration, and 14 artists through Bali Motion Club’s The Voyager.
Presented at Block 42, Nuanu Creative City, LIGHTS IN FRAME features 23 artists from across Indonesia who are alumni of MTN Lab 2025. The artists previously took part in MTN Lab programmes across Yogyakarta, Jakarta, Denpasar, and Gorontalo, developing works rooted in observation, social context, personal memory, archives, landscapes, community, and everyday life.
Through photography, video, installation, objects, archives, and multimedia approaches, LIGHTS IN FRAME reflects how contemporary lens-based practice in Indonesia is moving beyond the image alone and becoming a way to record, question, and understand lived realities.
“What makes Lights in Frame particularly compelling is its bold expansion of the meaning of photography. In the hands of these artists, photography is no longer merely the result of capturing an image through a camera, but a medium for reading, recording, and interpreting reality.” said Judi Wahyudin, S.S., M.Hum. Secretary of the Directorate General of Cultural Development, Utilization, and Promotion, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Indonesia.
The collaboration with ISI Denpasar brings 21 artists into the festival programme, creating an important bridge between arts education and the professional cultural ecosystem. Rather than positioning students and educators only as audiences, the collaboration gives them space to present work, participate in dialogue, and engage directly with curators, practitioners, institutions, and public audiences.
“Through our participation in FOTO Bali Festival, this international platform serves as a meaningful opportunity to put the Tri Dharma Perguruan Tinggi into practice through artistic creation and community engagement,” said Farhan Adistyasmara, In house Curator of ISI Bali “The involvement of students and emerging artists as curators and speakers strengthens our international academic engagement while fostering research collaboration and knowledge exchange with practitioners and scholars from around the world.”
Bali Motion Club’s The Voyager presents 14 artists in a special dome-based presentation, expanding photography into immersive, collaborative, and time-based formats. As an independent creative community in Bali, Bali Motion Club brings a vital grassroots perspective to the festival and connects younger audiences, experimental practitioners, and interdisciplinary creative networks to the wider photography conversation.
“Words can't describe how grateful I am—how grateful we are—for this opportunity. I keep telling people, this collaboration is a dream come true: my dream and the community's dream. The Voyager is the journey of a spoken dream. We envisioned this exhibition back in 2024, and now it's happening.” said Andyo Aryoga, Founder of Bali Motion Club.
Alongside the exhibition, MTN Seni Budaya’s participation in FOTO Bali Festival 2026 includes workshops and talks led by established practitioners including Ng Swan Ti, M. Alfariz, Firman Ichsan, Rio Helmi, and Marlowe Bandem. These sessions are designed to expand knowledge exchange, support capacity-building, and connect emerging talents with experienced mentors in the field of photography and visual culture.
“Photography in Indonesia has incredible energy, but energy alone is not enough,” said Kelsang Dolma, Festival Director of FOTO Bali Festival. “Artists need places to show their work, but they also need mentors, educators, communities, institutions, and audiences who stay with the practice beyond one exhibition. For us, FOTO Bali Festival is not only about what is on the wall. It is about what happens around it: the conversations, the learning, the exchanges, and the relationships that allow the ecosystem to grow.”
Together, the collaborations with MTN Seni Budaya, ISI Denpasar, Bali Motion Club, and other festival partners reflect a wider model for cultural development in Bali: one where the public sector, education, independent communities, and private cultural infrastructure work together to strengthen the conditions around artistic practice.
Through FOTO Bali Festival, Nuanu Creative City continues to position itself as a platform where cultural infrastructure is not only built physically, but socially: through networks, shared knowledge, public access, and long-term relationships between artists, institutions, communities, and audiences.
FOTO Bali Festival 2026 is supported by partners across education, culture, hospitality, and the creative industries, including MTN Seni Budaya, ISI Denpasar, Istituto Italiano di Cultura Jakarta, Pondok Lensa, Sekelakfoto, Bali Motion Club, Nuanu Social Fund, Oshom, Lumeira, Nuanu Suites, and Longhouse.
PHOTO Credit: Nuanu Creative City
For any media enquiry, please contact: pr@nuanu.com
Nuanu Creative City successfully concluded Nuanu Run 2026 on Sunday, 7 June 2026, welcoming more than 1,200 runners from across Indonesia and beyond for a day of movement, wellness, and community spirit in Bali’s Tabanan Regency.
Held across the immersive landscape of Nuanu Creative City and its surrounding areas, the second edition of Nuanu Run featured three race categories — 5K, 10K, and 21K Half Marathon — bringing together casual runners, wellness enthusiasts, and competitive athletes through an experience designed to celebrate endurance, creativity, and connection.
Carrying the theme, Push. Play. Prevail., Nuanu Run 2026 transformed the running experience into a destination-driven event where participants moved through greenery, open spaces, and artistic surroundings unique to Nuanu’s environment.
In the prestigious 21K Half Marathon category, the winners were secured by Indonesian runners; I Nyoman Karmayasa for male category and Septiana Dina Sari for female category, reinforcing the strength and enthusiasm of local running communities. The 10K category was won by Amram Natali Opat for male category and Putri Anggraini for female category, while the 5K winners were I Made Andika for male category and Virsya Umari Irsyad for female category.
“We’re incredibly proud to see Nuanu Run grow as part of Bali’s evolving wellness landscape,” said Lev Kroll, CEO of Nuanu Creative City. “For us, Nuanu Run is both an important milestone and a way to reinforce our vision of creating a pedestrian-friendly environment where movement and community are part of everyday life. Beyond the race itself, this event also marks the beginning of deeper collaborations with Bali’s running communities and clubs. Running brings people together through shared passion and energy, and through Nuanu Run, we hope to continue making Nuanu a destination where people can visit, live, and run together. We also look forward to welcoming runners back for future fun runs and community activities in the coming months.”
Beyond the race itself, participants and visitors gathered at the Race Village, where music, food vendors, and community activations created a lively post-race atmosphere throughout the day.
As Bali continues to position itself as a destination for experience-led events and wellness tourism, Nuanu Run strengthens the island’s growing reputation for community-driven activities that encourage healthier and more balanced lifestyles.
The event also reinforces Nuanu Creative City’s long-term commitment to health and wellbeing as one of its core pillars, alongside art and culture, education, entertainment, nature-inspired living, and innovation. Following the success of this year’s edition, Nuanu Creative City plans to continue expanding Nuanu Run as an annual platform that connects sport, creativity, and community engagement in Bali.
PHOTO Credit: Nuanu Creative City
For any media enquiry, please contact: pr@nuanu.com