Galela Youth and the Future of Culture: Reviving Local Heritage through Media

A cultural content development workshop for youth was held in Galela District, located at the Soa-sio Village Library, North Halmahera Regency, North Maluku. This activity was facilitated through the Cultural Media Partnership Program as part of efforts to expand access and support for the community in the production of cultural content to the eastern regions of Indonesia.

This partnership program is a form of strategic cooperation between the Cultural Media Center and the community. Through open public services, the community is given space to propose ideas, develop potential, and produce cultural content that is relevant to the times. This initiative emphasizes the commitment of the Cultural Media Center to promote equitable media-based cultural ecosystems throughout Indonesia.

In the midst of digital technology development, culture and social media are no longer in opposing positions. Instead, they are interconnected and form new ways of seeing, understanding, and promoting culture. Social media now not only serves as a communication tool but also becomes a space for producing meaning that can influence public perception of cultural identity.

Through this workshop, the village youth are encouraged to become the driving force in advancing media-based culture. They are expected to present local cultural expressions in fresher, more creative formats that align with the character of today's audience. The main objectives of this activity include supporting the advancement of national culture, increasing the awareness of the younger generation about the importance of cultural preservation at the village level, and facilitating the creative expression of youth through the production of engaging and informative cultural content.

The biggest challenge lies in how to package cultural expressions into contemporary trends without losing their noble values. So far, living cultural practices have often been centered around traditional elders and stakeholders in the village, thus not fully reaching the younger generation.

This condition has the potential to create an emotional distance between youth and their own culture. If not anticipated, this could lead to apathy and even a crisis of identity. Therefore, the presence of youth as initiators of cultural advancement becomes very important. By utilizing social media as a medium, they can revive local culture in a more contextual, inclusive, and accessible form.

Utilizing Media for the Preservation of Local Culture

The dominance of foreign cultures, rampant misinformation, and the potential for value shifts pose real challenges in maintaining cultural sustainability. Nevertheless, media also opens up great opportunities to present a new face of culture—more visual, more communicative, without losing the essence of the values it contains.

Through this cultural content management workshop, cultural narratives are sought to be translated into more relevant promotional media for the younger generation. Both intangible cultural heritage and cultural sites that live in villages have great potential to be brought into the digital public space. In addition to strengthening cultural identity, this can also impact the economic improvement of cultural practitioners at the local level.

The use of media allows culture not only to survive but also to develop and provide broader benefits. In this context, media becomes a bridge between tradition and innovation.

Through the Cultural Media Partnership Program, this workshop not only serves as a space for learning technical content production but also as a reflection space to foster love for one's own culture. Furthermore, this activity encourages a change in perspective that culture no longer needs to be positioned narrowly, but can be creatively elaborated by utilizing technology and social media as a medium of expression.