Pesta Kesenian Bali (PKB) — the Bali Arts Festival — is the largest and most comprehensive showcase of Balinese performing arts in the world, held annually at the Taman Werdhi Budaya (Art Centre) in Denpasar each June and July. The festival was established in 1979 by Governor Ida Bagus Mantra as a platform for preserving, developing, and presenting Bali's artistic traditions in a competitive and festive format. Today it draws more than 15,000 performers from across all eight kabupaten (regencies) of Bali, as well as troupes from Java, Lombok, and international partner regions. The opening ceremony is the festival's centrepiece — a grand procession along Denpasar's Puputan Margarana square, with each regency represented by hundreds of performers in full ceremonial dress, accompanied by gamelan orchestras, sacred Barong and Rangda masks, giant effigies, and intricate handmade ritual objects. The procession takes hours to pass a single vantage point and is one of the most visually overwhelming public events in Southeast Asia. Over the following month, the Art Centre hosts nightly performances of gamelan, wayang kulit (shadow puppetry), legong, baris, topeng mask dance, and numerous experimental forms that push the boundaries of traditional Balinese performance. Daytime events include art exhibitions, craft demonstrations, cooking competitions, and workshops for children. Admission to most events is free or very inexpensive, and the festival's genuinely grassroots character — most performers are community groups, not professional companies — makes it a window into Balinese culture that commercial tourist performances cannot replicate.