LOVE MONTH IS ARTS MONTH

LOVE MONTH IS ARTS MONTH "February has always been known as the month of love. During this month, love songs fill the air, and the romantics have a heyday planning their perfect dates. Topics about love barrage our listening, viewing, and reading moments, with images of flowers, cakes, and wines and lovers arm-in-arm completing the neatly orchestrated scene. But besides being the month of love, February is also National Arts Month (NAM) by virtue of Presidential Decree 683 signed by President Corazon Aquino in 1991.To commemorate the occasion, activities are staged every year to celebrate the seven arts, featuring Filipino talents in riveting performances. Last year, the festivities not only veered away from a Manila-centered production by involving artists from different parts of the country, it also went international with foreign artists coming over to the country to join in the celebrations.This year, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), which spearheads the celebration, is bent on duplicating and continuing, if not exceeding, the feat achieved in last year’s festivities. To ensure this, the committees for each of the seven arts redesigned last year’s flagship projects for staging in different parts of the country. These are: Organik Muzik courtesy of the NCCA’s National Committee on Music the Taboan from the National Committee on Literary Arts the Cinema Rehiyon from the National Committee on Cinema the Tanghal from the National Committee on Performing Arts the Philippine International Visual Arts Festival courtesy of the National Committee on Visual Arts the Archi (Types/Text): Architecture in Philippine Life from the National Committee on Architecture and Allied Arts and the Sayaw Pinoy from the National Committee on Dance. “The flagship projects in each of the seven arts continue to explore new modes of expressions and collaborations with one another even as they firm up their connections with their roots and document their aesthetics,” explains Professor Ricardo de Ungria, head of the NCCA Sub-commission on the Arts and serves as the Philippine International Arts Festival director.Besides the flagship projects, many other NCCA-funded projects will also be mounted for the NAM celebrations. In the middle of last year, the Commission called on artists and cultural workers all over the country to submit proposals of artistic activities for implementation during the NAM celebration. From the submitted proposals, 30 NAM projects that were either new works, previously staged productions, or based on works by National Artists were granted funding assistance. Some of these projects are the Saludo: Tribute to Philippine National Artists, a multimedia and multidisciplinary presentation of Philippine National Artists from the Visayas Ken Kenhulung (A Celebration of Arts), the first National Arts Month celebration of the Tboli cultural community in Lake Sebu South Cotabato lead by Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan awardee Boi Lang Dulay Pahandaja na Mamanua Ka Surigao, a one-day gathering of the Mamanua cultural community in Surigao City to present, promote and develop creativity, specifically of local indigenous talents through various form of expressions and Panagbenga: Baguio Poetry Reading for Arts Month 2010 where writers based in Baguio City and Benguet will read their poems, written in Filipino, English, Ibaloi, Iluko and Pangasinense, in front of a live audience of students and other members of the community. Local governments and schools have also been encouraged to mount activities celebrating and highlighting Filipino artistry and culture in their communities.On top of these, foreign films will also be shown at the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) Film Festival to be held at the Cultural Center of the Philippines on February 16 to 21, and Iran-Georgia Film Festival at the NCCA Auditorium on February 22 to 26. The festival have yet to officially start in two days’ time, but this early, artists and cultural workers from all over the country are already poised behind the still be-curtained national stage of creativity, awaiting for the lights to be turned on and the curtains to go up, itching to paint a vibrant and diverse scene of artistry on the canvas of our national consciousness.Watch out for the Salubong on January 31 which marks the opening of the festivities. At 9 a.m., there will be an interaction with the country’s National Artists at the NCCA office in Intramuros, Manila. This will be followed by a parade from Intramuros to Lapu-Lapu Shrine in Rizal Park, at 3 p.m. Performances begin at 5 p.m. with the following performers: Lahing Batangan Dance Troupe, UP Dance Co., Aria Clemente, Makiling, Barasoain Kalinangan Foundation Group, Next to Innocence, Bagong Dugo, Kenyo Band, Kyla, Tanghalang Bagong Sibol, UE Drama Co., Teatro Marikeno, Collective Arts Students and Thespians, Dulaang Sipat Lawin, Joey Ayala, and Pailaw Himpapawid. Also happening on the January 31, at 6 p.m. is the first leg of the Sayaw Pinoy at the Concert at the Park in the Luneta Park Open Air Auditorium. The Sayaw Pinoy is a touring dance concert that brings together different dance forms and features local dance troupes. Finally, on February 1, the Ani ng Sining sa Sangay ng Gobierno will premier in Malacañang.BY SHERMA E. BENOSA" - https://www.affordablecebu.com/