Nuanu Creative City announces the second edition of FOTO Bali Festival, taking place from 3 June to 12 July 2026 in Bali. Following a strong inaugural edition, the international photography festival continues as a platform for lens-based practitioners and visual artists to connect, exchange ideas and work across local and global contexts.

Launched in 2025, FOTO Bali Festival was conceived in response to the absence of a dedicated international photography platform in the region, and the growing demand for one. Its inaugural edition brought together 34 artists from 10 countries, selected from 247 submissions across 29 countries. The response affirmed the need for a space where photographic practices from Southeast Asia and beyond can meet, be seen and be critically engaged, positioning Bali as an active participant in contemporary photographic discourse.

“The response from artists across Southeast Asia and the wider international photography community affirmed that this platform truly matters. I’m deeply grateful for Nuanu’s trust in supporting FOTO Bali Festival as a long-term commitment to cultural infrastructure, rather than a one-off initiative. From the beginning, we’ve allowed the festival to evolve through practice, paying attention to context, learning as we go, and making decisions carefully, while staying open to working closely with artists and others who are invested in shaping Nuanu as a shared cultural space.” - Kelsang Dolma, Festival Director

For its second edition, Nuanu appoints two Indonesians Kurniadi Widodo and Putu Sridiniari as curators. Together, they will shape the festival’s curatorial direction, artist selection and public programmes.

Based in Yogyakarta, Widodo brings a background as a photographer, educator and curator, with long-standing engagement in documentary practice and photographic education. Sridiniari, a Balinese curator and researcher working between Bali and Yogyakarta, contributes a research-driven approach informed by visual art, archives, and questions of memory, place, and socio-political context. Their combined perspectives form the curatorial foundation for the 2026 edition.

“This festival offers an important space for photographers to meet beyond institutional or geographic boundaries. My focus is on creating a curatorial framework that allows different practices to speak to one another—without losing sight of where they come from.” said Kurniadi Widodo.

“For me, photography is a way of tracing how images move through time, memory, and social space. At FOTO Bali Festival, I’m interested in how photographic practices are shaped by local realities, while remaining in conversation with wider histories and contexts.” added Putu Sridiniari

As an annual initiative, FOTO Bali Festival extends beyond exhibition-making. Through a series of encounters across exhibitions, conversations and educational initiatives, the festival creates space for audiences and practitioners to spend time with photography as an evolving practice, one closely tied to everyday life, memory, and the conditions in which images are made.

The second edition of FOTO Bali Festival continues to support artistic practice and international exchange in Bali. By hosting an international photography festival on the island, the festival contributes to a growing cultural ecosystem, positioning Bali as an active site of contemporary photographic practice and artistic discourse across Southeast Asia and beyond.

Photo Credit: (L to R) Frutti Noventi and Gevi Noviyanti

Nuanu Creative City will mark Lunar New Year with a four-day cultural programme unfolding across the site from 14 to 17 February 2026. Presented as a site-wide cultural moment, the celebrations bring together performances, rituals, and public-facing activations experienced across the site at different rhythms over several days.

The Lunar New Year programme takes the form of a micro-festival format, bringing a compact constellation of cultural experiences together across Nuanu. Shaped around proximity and circulation, the programme invites audiences to move through the site and encounter performances and activations at close range, allowing culture to unfold through presence and movement rather than fixed staging.

“We’re building Nuanu through repeated cultural moments,” said Ida Ayu Astari Prada, Director of Brand and Communications, Nuanu. “This site-wide approach allows us to work closely with artists and communities, while giving space for different forms of expression to coexist. It’s how culture here stays connected to place, people, and everyday life.”

Nuanu’s open layout, walkable distances, and pedestrian-first infrastructure make it particularly suited to this approach. With fuel-based vehicles restricted and movement supported by a public electric shuttle loop, programmes unfold through walking and gradual transition between spaces. Public areas, gardens, and enclosed venues sit in close relation, allowing the experience to be shaped by movement through place.

Each evening opens with Barongsai and Barong Bangkung performances, marking a ceremonial entry point into the Lunar New Year celebrations and setting the tone for the programme across the site.

Evening programmes at the Labyrinth DOME feature a rotating lineup of immersive performances and music-led sessions. Highlights include Invisible Magic, an intimate performance by Hong Kong–based magician and performance artist Chen Ting, alongside atmospheric DJ sets and sound journeys featuring Keigo Tanaka, Waxwood, Culcha Collective, and Roba Grow. Presented in close-range settings, these sessions explore rhythm, sound, and shared presence, extending the Lunar New Year atmosphere into the evening hours.

Across the four days, Labyrinth Art Gallery hosts a tea-focused programme that brings together guided tea ceremonies and a curated tea display, inviting visitors to slow down and engage with tea as both ritual and cultural practice. Positioned within the wider programme, the experience offers a quieter moment of pause amid the site’s evolving activities.

Daytime and early evening Lunar New Year Cultural Showcases continue on 16 and 17 February, activating public spaces with accessible performances that extend the celebrations beyond the evening programme and invite repeat visits at different times of day.

Together, the Lunar New Year programme reflects Nuanu’s approach to culture as something built over time — through place-specific programming, close collaboration with artists, and sustained public participation.

PHOTO CREDIT: Nuanu Creative City

2025 marked the first full year in which Nuanu Creative City operated as a public-facing place in Bali. After an initial period of development and testing, the year represented Nuanu’s first sustained exposure to daily public use, scrutiny and responsibility.

The 2025 Impact Report documents what was built, how it functioned in practice, and what outcomes emerged across environmental performance, social investment and cultural activity during this founding year.

“One of the things we do – we try to apply it-frameworks to more traditional industries and initiatives.” said Lev Kroll, CEO of Nuanu Creative City “Impact report for us is not about patting ourselves on the back, but a way to make things more trackable. Nuanu is about experimenting and ruthlessly looking at what works and what doesn’t – and as our impact (both environmental and social) is extremely important to us, this report is mainly a start of a conversation about what we can track better, do better, which practices contribute to better life for our community, communities around etc.”

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

Environmental performance at Nuanu in 2025 focused on operational systems rather than standalone initiatives. Mobility, energy, waste, and land use were treated as interdependent decisions shaping daily experience and long-term ecological outcomes.

Low-emission mobility became the default across the site through the use of electric vehicles for internal transportation, reducing reliance on fossil fuels and supporting a pedestrian-oriented environment. This shift resulted in annual fuel savings of approximately 39,500 liters and avoided more than 43 tons of CO₂e emissions.

On-site solar energy systems reduced grid electricity consumption by an estimated 213,362 kWh during the year, preventing approximately 192 tons of CO₂e emissions and contributing to Nuanu’s longer-term transition toward full electrification.

Waste management systems achieved a 94.84 percent recycling rate through on-site segregation, composting, and organic waste redistribution. Over the year, 84.65 tons of recyclable waste and 1,085 tons of organic waste were processed, with compost and food waste redirected into local agricultural use.

Ecological restoration efforts continued through native reforestation using the Miyawaki method, with 1,015 trees planted to strengthen biodiversity, soil health, and long-term ecosystem resilience.

“Since 2024, we’ve been developing the data backbone of our operations, and 2025 allowed us to deepen that structure,” said Agastya Yatra, Head of Environment at Nuanu. “In 2026, our commitment is to bring this work to full maturity, ensuring our results are clear, accountable, and ready to guide a renewed roadmap for the years ahead.”

SOCIAL IMPACT

Social investment at Nuanu in 2025 was structured around long-term partnership rather than short-term assistance. Through the Nuanu Social Fund, more than IDR 5.6 billion was allocated to education, culture, community wellbeing and livelihood-related initiatives.

A majority of this funding, 62.9 percent, supported art and cultural activity, recognising creative practice as a driver of social connection, knowledge transmission, and local economic participation.

Education and capacity-building programs reached more than 1,000 children and students, alongside 120 women and young women engaged through skills, literacy, and confidence-building initiatives. In total, over 15 structured education and learning programs were delivered.

Wellness initiatives strengthened nutrition, mental health, and overall community wellbeing. Across 5 dedicated health and wellness programs, more than 2,200 participants engaged in activities designed to support healthier living, while over 20 units of blood were donated to aid lifesaving efforts.

Nature-based livelihood initiatives connected environmental care with everyday income generation, supporting 863 households through programs involving sustainable farming, waste management, and biodiversity-related work.

Living programs enhanced community welfare, emergency responsiveness, and access to essential public facilities. Through 9 targeted initiatives, over 900 beneficiaries received direct support, complemented by 3 key community infrastructure improvements that contributed to safer and more resilient neighbourhoods. On top of that, NSF showed efforts to provide immediate emergency relief for Bali flood affected communities, supporting 1.447 communities

“The Social Fund exists to ensure that growth and community driven funds translates into shared impact,” said Auditya Sari, Head of the Nuanu Social Fund. “In 2025, our focus was on cultivating communities, building trust through consistent engagement, transparent allocation and partnerships that extend beyond a single year or project to actively drive more social good"

Nuanu’s 2025 Impact Report reflects a shift from launching initiatives to testing systems under public conditions. The findings from this first full year are shaping how the city approaches development, investment, and accountability moving forward. Full report can be accessed at https://bit.ly/NuanuImpact2025.