PAGADIAN CITY, Feb. 1 (PIA) – In consonance with the
celebration of the National Arts Month this February, the National Commission
for Culture and Arts (NCCA), National Committee for Visual Arts will showcase
Philippine Visual Arts Festival in Pagadian City come Feb. 7 -11.
During the PIA Media Forum held last week at the
Subanen Hall, Provincial Government Center at Barangay Dao this city, NCCA
Deputy Executive Director Marlene Sanchez said this year’s festival theme is
“Ani ng Sining” with a subtheme “Celebrating Icons.”
“A number of visual artists from all over the country
are expected to come and participate. Various visual art works will also be
displayed during the four-day festivity,” Sanchez said.
On the other hand, Nemesio Miranda, head of NCCA’s
National Committee on Visual Arts, said that in his three years as committee
head, it was decided to bring the arts festival down to the regions,
“considering that there are so many artists in the regions who could not afford
to go to Manila to participate in the annual event.”
One main purpose of bringing the arts congress to the
regions, is to have a head count of all visual artists in the country, Miranda
added.
He further said “the NCCA will come up with a national
visual artist directory, and through this directory we can give them
information and updates as to the programs of NCCA, giving them equal footing
and opportunities with the artist based in Manila. It also serves as a venue
for fellowship among visual artists.”
The congress, he said, also aims to listen to the
issues and concerns of visual artists in order to thresh out and resolve their
problems.
“Nobody will help us, except us – nobody knows the
solutions to the problems of the visual artists except the visual artists
themselves,” Miranda stressed. (FPG/CAL/PIA9)