In yet another show of support to the promotion of culture and the arts in other parts of the country outside of Metro Manila, credit goes to the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) in making possible through its funding of the first International Choral Festival in Dumaguete City that ended last Saturday, August 5.
How much do we know about the NCCA and its beginnings?
Part of its advocacy is the commemoration of National Arts Month in February of each year. Today, its official logo is a flower or a stylized plant sprout, which symbolizes the blossoming of the Philippine art, designed by printmaker Pandy Aviado and colored by graphic artist Peewee Roldan. It takes inspiration from a traditional ukkil floral motif of the peoples of the Sulu archipelago.
The NCCA has since worked hand in hand with arts and culture organizations, local government units, educational institutions, business establishments, and individuals in holding simultaneous arts activities in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. The activities involved hundreds of artists from seven fields – architecture, dance, film, literature, music, theater and the visual arts.
In 2000, in consonance with the NCCA’s year-long arts festival called Sambayan: Philippine Culture and Arts Festival 2000, the NCCA highlighted the February arts month celebration with the theme “Salubong sa Siglo,” with the entire celebration viewed as a symbolic rite of passage for Filipino artists welcoming the new millennium. The grand launch of the 2002 National Arts Month celebration was marked by a
“dayana,” or the parade of marching bands at dawn, which normally signalled the start of a fiesta. Marching bands paraded for an hour prior to the launch around the Agrifina Circle in Rizal Park as the NCCA’s symbolic way of awakening the country to the month-long celebration of arts activities.
In 2005, the NCCA took the NAM celebration to Malacañang grounds through cultural performances held during its Monday flag ceremonies. This time, NAM was themed “Sining Gising: Crafting Identities for Social Transformation” as a statement against poverty, pollution, and corruption. The 2005 NAM also hosted the first National Bamboo Music Festival, a three- day event featuring seminars, workshops, and performances using Philippine bamboo music.
For 2006, the NCCA unveiled a new logo called Alab ng Haraya (Flame of Imagination), which was composed of a fire and censer elements designed by Romeo Togonon, adviser of the Samahang Kartunista ng Pilipinas. The fire is a stylized K for “kadakilaan” (nobleness) in Philippine indigenous script. The fire emanates from a three-tiered censer, which represents organization, economic support, and an orientation based on a firm understanding of tradition and history, which the NCCA provides.
In 2008, singer Gary Valenciano, UNICEF Ambassador of Goodwill, sang with 33 prisoners from the National Bilibid Prison-Medium Security-College Guild during the Philippine Arts Festival launch at Kalayaan Grounds in Malacañang Palace. The 2008 PAF’s theme was “Ani ng Sining: Art in Public Spaces,” and with the event was attended by ambassadors, head of international organizations, artists, government officials, local government units, people’s organizations, non-governmental organizations, cultural workers, students, Malacañang and NCCA employees.
In 2012, the NAM celebration dropped the “international” tag and
merely became known as the Philippine Arts Festival 2012. The celebration took the theme “Ani ng Sining: Tradisyon at Inobasyon” as a call to hope, a challenge to act for a social transformation. The seven arts activities for the 2012 PAF were: Taboan, a literary arts festival; the First Asian Festival of Gongs and Bamboo Music; the Tanghal dramatic arts; Philippine International Visual Arts Festival: The Rizal Experience; Cinema Rehiyon; Architecture; and Sayaw Pinoy. Ms. Universe 2011 third runner-up Shamcey Supsup graced the PAF 2012 celebration as the Ambassadress for Architecture. The NCCA also brought the PAF celebration to typhoon-stricken Cagayan de Oro City to help in the healing process for survivors through arts performances.
The 2013 Philippine Arts Festival turned the spotlight on Philippine art icons with the theme “Celebrating Icons.”
The outstanding creative expressions of Filipino artists in the fields of dance, literature, theatre, visual arts, cinema, architecture and its allied arts, music, including the traditional arts, have, over decades, earned the respect and admiration of the world. This aims to create an awareness among the present crop of artists who hopes to follow in their path, or even blaze a new direction that they, too, are descended from such a long prestigious line of Filipino artists. – NWI
