Answer:

The Atelier for Young Festival Managers, a mentorship program initiated by the European Festival Association (EFA) is becoming the most important and comprehensive forum for international discussions on a worldwide cultural phenomenon, the arts festivals.

During the opening of the atelier in Singapore, one of the mentors, Rose Fenton, co-founder of the London International Festival of Theater asked the question: How many festivals do we really need? There were eleven mentors and 34 participants from ASEM countries, Africa and Central America. In the plenary alone there were close to fifty festivals celebrating different ways of life, events and things.

An interesting note, as the third edition of the Atelier which was held for the first time in Asia, the question “are Asian festivals using the European Model?” was often raised. An Atelier mentor Wai-Lap Kwong, the Program Director of the Guangdong Modern Dance Festival in China, stressed that in Asia, Festivals are community events that oftentimes centered on food.

Philippine festivals are town fiestas celebrating moments in history that defined identity, polity and locality. Celebration of the arts and culture, albeit made central to these festivities, only comes as a texture instead of text in the whole exercise of the Festival. This articulation of the festival differs entirely from the European frame borrowed from Bernard Faivre D’Arcier (former Director of the Avignon Festival) that “the true role of the festival is for artists to dare, to engage in new projects”. Despite the cultural divides of eastern and western thoughts, Philippine festivals are still festivals nonetheless.

The Arts in the Philippine Fiestas

[caption id="attachment_13682" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Performers of the Street Dancing Competition during the Kalilangan Festival in General Santos City, Philippines"][/caption]

The Philippines has so many festivals: there are town fiestas celebrating foundation days, patron saints and a combination of both. These festivals are occasions when and where people converge, the same occasions when Government units and the private sector become generous with funds.  Fiestas become important avenues for artistic engagement.  As artistic ventures especially in the Philippine countryside are always wanting in venues and avenues for artistic engagement, it is in these convergences that the artists find their audience.

The Philippine festival calendar is full. Every province, town and city celebrates foundation days, patronal fiestas and historic celebrations. While it is a hodgepodge and flurry of sports and commercial activities, oftentimes culture and the arts are the central motifs of the celebrations allowing artists to dare and engage in new projects. Depending on the local expertise, these fiestas become the stage for local visual arts, music and dance festivals. Cosmopolitan centers feature contemporary arts while others highlight traditions indigenous to the locale.

International Arts Festivals in the Philippines

The oldest and one of the most important music festivals in the Philippines is the International Bamboo Organ Festival.

Explanation:

Answer:

Cebu City – The start of 2017 is celebrated with festivals left and right–from the Feast of the Black Nazarene in Manila, to the Sinulog Festival in Cebu, and to the Dinagyang in Iloilo, to name a few. Almost every province and city in the Philippines has all kind of fiestas celebrated all year round that shows the rich culture of the country. This practice has been embedded in the Filipino tradition and believed to have started even before the coming of the Spaniards.

There are different types of festivals, namely, religious, national, or seasonal. A considerable number of festivals celebrated in the country are of religious origin, honoring the city or province’s patron saint. A mass, novenas, grand parade, beauty pageants, processions, and many other activities are prepared for this special day that brings all the whole community together to express gratitude to God. Often, such occasions draw many balikbayans to return home and reminisce the olden times.

Explanation: