Art Events in Manila and Beyond

Philippine International Arts Festival

For 18 years now, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts
(NCCA) has been organizing the National Arts Month (NAM) in the month
of February with a series of festivities and activities mounted
throughout the country celebrating Filipino artistry and promoting the
arts and the artists. For 2009, the celebration takes a leap by going
international under the name Philippine International Arts Festival
(PIAF).

It will feature the talents and performances of the many artists and
arts groups in the seven arts on whose trainings, competitions, and
creative expressions it has invested the past year or so. More than a
way of looking back at past accomplishments, the festival will be a
celebration of the fruits of the creative efforts for the past year
and a looking forward to a richer, more fertile ground in the coming
years for the evolution of artistic modes of expression available to
the Filipino creative imagination.

The National Arts Month started with Presidential Proclamation No. 683
in 1991. Now, the NCCA, led by its Chairman, DepEd Usec. Dr. Vilma
Labrador and Executive Director Cecile Guidote-Alvarez, through the
NAM Artistic Committee headed by Prof. Ricardo de Ungria, Commissioner
of the NCCA-Subcommission on the Arts (SCA), is taking the celebration
to the next level by calling National Arts Month the Philippine
International Arts Festival (PIAF) for next year.

Selected artists from different countries are expected to join in the
different PIAF events through the PIAF Artistic Committee in
coordination with the Philippine International Theatre Institute (ITI)
through its Sec. General Malou Jacob, also concurrent NCCA Executive
Director.

All over the country, different arts and culture groups as well as
local governments will hold events for the PIAF with funding and
support from the NCCA. With the theme "Ani ng Sining," the PIAF has
evolved from Manila-centered activities to a truly national event with
key activities in all three major island groups, Luzon, Visayas,
Mindanao, involving hundreds of artists from different disciplines of
arts and reaching thousands of people from all walks of life and all
over the world.

Some of the highlights to look forward to in the PIAF on February 2009
are:

* The Ani ng Sining Launching. PIAF Ani ng Sining will formally open
in three venues: Launching on TV (Sunday noontime variety program);
Sining Gising of NBN 4 and Concert at the Park with delayed telecast
in NBN 4. Philippine International Arts Festival will also
simultaneously be launched in major sites in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.
* PA(ng)LABAS. The project is a composite of a traveling exhibition,
lecture-forum, and a film showing which will to examine both the
medium of film and the form and style of architecture as they relate
to the development of film media, architecture and urban landscape.
The title Pa(ng)labas is doubly coded to encompass both the concepts
of projected moving image (palabas) and the exteriority of
architecture (panglabas) to establish a sense of place. It will happen
from February 9 to 13, 2009 at Cine Adarna, Aldaba Theater,
University Theater of the University of the Philippines; from February
16 to 20, 2009, at the Cultural Center of the Philippines; and from
February 23 to 27, 2009 at the University of San Carlos in Cebu.
* Walai-Vernacular Architecture of Mindanao. This is an architectural
drawing and photography exhibit of the vernacular houses of Mindanao
culled from the Walai Pangampong project, complemented with a lecture
series, selected ritual dances and craft works associated with house
building and construction, and a model replica of selected indigenous
structure. It is slated from February 1 to 6, 2009.
* Sinerehiyon. This is a showcase of nascent cinema from the regions.
From the highlands in and around Baguio to the heart of Bicolandia
that is Naga City; across the thriving Visayas cities of Cebu, Bacolod
and Iloilo; and through Mindanao between Cagayan de Oro and Davao, a
new generation of artists is telling stories of their own cultures and
people in cinematic form. This will be from February 17 to 19 at the CCP.
* Sayaw Pinoy. This touring dance concert brings together different
dance forms and features local dance troupes of the host cities and
municipalities performing back-to-back with the different professional
dance companies in the country. This will from February 6 to 9 for the
Visayas and NCR regions; from February 13 to 16 for Mindanao; and
February 20 to 23 for Luzon.
* Tanghal! The 3rd National University Theater Festival. Hosted by
Colegio de San Juan de Letran-Calamba, the event will feature
university-based theatre groups from Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao and NCR
in cooperation with the Lusong Luzon Arts and Culture Network. It will
happen from February 10 to 14, 2009 at the Colegio de San Juan de
Letran-Calamba.
* Taboan: Philippine Writers Festival. This is will be a celebration
of the word—written, painted, sung, or performed—and will assemble
writers from all the regions and across generations who will interact
with one another and with their audience on issues pertaining to their
craft or the situation of writing in the country, or read from their
new works. This will happen from February 11 to 13, 2009 at the UP
Diliman, Ateneo de Manila and Cubao Expo.
* Organik Muzik. This is a series of four concerts showing the
metamorphosis of elements of Philippine music from village roots to
urban manifestations, from Cordillera traditions to Kadangyan's world
music, from Leyteño siday to Junior Kilat's reggae Binisaya, from
GAMABA Awardee Samaon Sulaiman's virtuoso kutyapi-playing to the
hard-driving neo-ethnic rock of Popong Landero, from flights of
Balagtasan to the acid-jazz rants of Lourd de Veyra and Radioactive
Sago. Musical innovator Joey Ayala weaves the journey towards a
coherent whole. It will happen on February 7, 2009 at SM Baguio;
February 14, 2009 at SM Cebu; February 21, 2009 at SM Davao; and
February 28, 2009 at SM Mall of Asia.
* Philippine Visual Arts Festival '09. It will be a convergence of
selected various Filipino and International Artists from the different
regions of the country. it will feature the talents and performances
of the artists and groups in the visual arts whose trainings,
competitions and creative expressions it has invested the past year or so

For details, please contact RENE NAPEÑAS, Head of the NCCA-Public
Affairs and Information Office (PAIO) at cellphone number
0928-5081057) or VANESSA MARQUEZ, NAM Deputy Festival Director at
cellphone number 0918-6380412, or call (02) 527-5529 / 527-2192 loc.
508, 612 to 615, email at ncca.paio@gmail. com or
public_affairs@ ncca.gov. ph or log on www.philippineartsf est.com or
www.ncca.gov. ph.