Arts Month to focus on the youth, reinvention to move art forward

NATIONAL ARTIST for Literature and chairman of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) Virgilio S. Almario encourages everyone to practice self-awareness and reinvention, which stimulate how we view ourselves and, in turn, how we see progress in our country.

“Let’s think of how we view ourselves again. I myself no longer like what I am making so I am searching for a new way of creating and expressing,” he said in the vernacular at the sidelines of NCCA’s launch of the February Arts Month celebration.

“At the same time, I want the new ways of expression to become pathways in the creation of a new country,” he added.

He said the Philippines is the product of our hiraya (imagination). “Jose Rizal and the other heroes imagined what our country should be like thus there was the revolution. After several centuries, we should reimagine our country. I am not happy with the results as we appear to have failed to fulfil the imaginings of our heroes.

“The Philippines is changing, conditions are changing. So the principles we hold on to may be old. We must assess well which of the things Bonifacio, Rizal did are still useful today and if there are things that they did not create that we need today so we can improve further.”

In line with Mr. Almario’s vision, the NCCA’s programs for February’s celebration of the Arts Month will cater to and center around the youth and the regions outside the Metro Manila.

“First, we need to go out outside of the city and involve the regions, because — we may not want to admit it — but the news and reports are always centered in Metro Manila,” he said in Filipino.

The Arts Month festivities, with theme “Ani ng Sining, Alab ng Sining,” will emphasize the seven arts — architecture, painting, music, literary, dance, performing, and cinema — in the Philippines and the diverse practices. (The youth sulk because they are treated as children. They are not considered equal to adults so they are looked on at as needing to be taught and not as partners in creating community projects),” he said, adding that there is a need to heed this message as the Philippines is home to a young population.

“The Philippines must utilize the energy and passion of our youth,” he said.

As a result, the National Arts Month celebration will hold seven projects which are focused on the youth and the regions outside Metro Manila:

• Musicapuluan: Music of the Philippine Islands, which is a music festival with performances, workshops, and lectures that will be held in Quezon City, Dumaguete City, Davao City, Negros Oriental, Catbalogan City, Cebu, and Samar.

• Loob at Labas: Talakayan at Pagpaparangya, which is a roving exhibit and forum on architecture that will travel to Bacolod, Baguio, Davao, Cabanatuan City, and Batangas.

• The 10th edition of the Cinema Rehiyon Film Festival, which will travel to universities in Metro Manila, and will feature some of the best works done in regions outside the capital.

• The Sayaw Pinoy dance tour, which will bring together the different art forms, ballet, folk dance, and modern dance to the stages around the provinces.

• Tampok will gather key theater practitioners in the country and feature performances, workshops, and discussions.

The Philippine Visual Arts Festival