IP crafts on view at NCCA Gallery

THE NCCA Gallery banners indigenous arts and crafts in its Schools of Living Tradition (SLT) Exhibit on view at the NCCA Building until October 29.

The exhibit is part of the back-to-back, nationwide celebration of the Indigenous Peoples’ Month (Presidential Proclamation No. 1906, s.2009), and the Museums and Galleries Month (Presidential Proclamation No. 798, s. 1991) in October.

The SLTs, are community based cultural hubs where culture bearers or cultural masters of various indigenous or traditional art forms (i.e oral traditions of chanting, weaving, and other performance and practical arts) engage with non-formal education and skills transfer with the youth of their communities.

The establishment of SLTs is NCCA’s response to the call of Unesco to facilitate the safeguarding and transmission of indigenous knowledge and skills to the next generation.

It aims to encourage masters and culture bearers to continue their work and train younger successors from the same community who would develop and expand the traditional art of their group.

Following the three initial SLTs established in 1993, the program has now expanded, covering different communities in the three island clusters of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

Featured on the SLT Exhibit at the NCCA Gallery are the best works produced from the various Schools of Living Traditions across the country, which serve as evidence to the rich and complex characters of each IP community.