The Werdhi Budaya Art Center was designed by Bali’s foremost architect, Ida Bagus Tugur, also the architect for Indonesia’s new National Art Gallery. The vast complex is, apart from its very real cultural for Balinese Temple and Palace Architecture at its most opulent. The open stage Arda Candra with its towering candi gate, the rococo main Art Museum, and Balinese pavilions have become a major architectural attraction. Built o­n o­ne of the few remaining coconut groves in central Denpasar, the center has quickly become a busy forum for the performing and fine arts. With three Art Galleries and a host of stages, the Center is o­nly rivaled by Jakarta’s Taman Ismail Marzuki as a venue for diverse and rapidly changing cultural programs. Since 1975 the Center has been home to the island’s Dance Academy (ASTI), a tertiary level Conservatorium, Dance and Drama School for traditional Balinese Performing Arts.

Modern, traditional and contemporary Balinese visual arts can be seen at this spacious complex, which is the largest and most complete art center in a series of cultural centers built throughout the archipelago. Werdi Budaya Art Centre exhibits Bali's numerous visual arts disciplines including painting, woodcarving, shadow puppetry, silverwork, weaving, Barong and Rangda dance costumes, and remarkable ivory carving. Apart from its real cultural function, the complex is a showplace for Balinese Temple and Palace architecture at its most opulent. The grounds are also home to the month-long Pesta Seni or Bali Art Festival, held sometime in June, when traditional music, dance, art exhibitions, cultural competitions, sales of foodstuffs, and local handicrafts highlight the best of Bali's talents.