UNESCO Jakarta and Citi Indonesia under the support of Citi Foundation have launched the “Wear Your Mask: campaign to avert the spread of the COVID-19 while supporting traditional weavers and promoting cultural messages. Under the Creative Youth at the Indonesian Heritage Program aimed at building entrepreneurial capacity of youth living in and around famous heritage destinations,  more than 65 youth-led brands from Yogyakarta, Borobudur, Klaten, Kotatua Jakarta, Toba, Lombok  and Bali are currently participating in the campaign. Under the campaign, lectures by anthropologist on the stories behind the traditional motifs of the textiles, as well as workshops on how to create stylish and innovative facemasks out of traditional are being organized.   Story-telling class is also on the menu to equip the youths to promote their products in social media.  Lutfi Koriah Yunani, a youth batik maker from Klaten (Central Java) stated that this campaign  inspired her to create a new batik mask series on the theme of  Indonesia’s Independence Day in August. “Once my mask was uploaded on the social media channel of the UNESCO-CITI project, I started receiving more orders and had to increase my product capacity”, told Lutfi happily.
The masks designed by youth under the campaign can be viewed at  the official Instagram account of the project, @kitamudakreatif.   To further assist them in promoting their products, UNESCO and CITI Indonesia will host  the Virtual Fashion and Mask Show Live through YouTube  platform in mid-September.