Promulgated by then President Corazon Aquino in 1991, Presidential Proclamation No. 683 declared February of every year as National Arts. Month to celebrate the artistic excellence and pay tribute to the uniqueness and diversity of the Filipino heritage and culture.

With this year’s theme “ANI NG SINING, BUNGA NG GALING,” the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) leads the celebration of National Arts Month (NAM) this February and March with various exciting face-to-face and online activities.   The theme aims to immerse Filipinos in diverse cultural expressions and celebrate the bountiful harvest from the Filipino imagination. 

The theme “galing” refers to excellence in the arts as both a source of bounty despite challenging times, and a product of the passion of Filipino artists and cultural workers. In celebrating National Arts Month in 2023, “galing” alludes to artistic excellence as well as underscoring the capacity of the arts to heal, rebuild, and restore in a post-pandemic setting.

The celebration is mainly composed of the flagship projects of Subcommission on the Arts (SCA) led by its outgoing commissioner Dr. Rolando B. Tolentino and incoming commissioner Dr. Arvin Manuel R. Villalon with the outgoing and incoming heads of the seven national committees: Architecture and Allied Arts outgoing head LAr. Zenaida DC. Galingan and incoming head Lar. Cathe Desiree S. Nadal; Cinema outgoing head Dr. Rolando B. Tolentino and incoming head Mr. Teddy Co; Dance outgoing head Dr. Shirley Halili-Cruz and incoming head Dr. Lordinio A. Vergara; Literary Arts outgoing head: Dr. Julieta C. Mallari and incoming head Mr. Niles Jordan D. Breis; Music outgoing head: Dr. Felipe M. De Leon Jr. and incoming head Mr. Arvin Manuel R. Villalon; Dramatic Arts outgoing head: Dr. Felimon B. Blanco and incoming head Mr. Eduardo P. Perez; and Visual Arts outgoing head Ms. Geraldine B. Araneta and incoming head Mr. Dennis E. Montera.

Architecture and Allied Arts

SAAN KA LULUGAR (SKL) 2023: Resiliency in the Built and Designed Environment is the flagship project of the National Committee on Architecture and Allied Arts (NCAAA) and the United Architects of the Philippines, in cooperation with the Philippine Institute of Interior Designers, Philippine Association of Landscape Architects, and Philippine Institute of Environmental Planners. The project invites planning and design professionals, academicians, students, and the general public, both local and international to engage in a conversation to discuss resiliency in planning, designing, and creating our built environment on various scales – from dwellings to buildings to streets, towns, districts, and cities, etc. 

SKL 2023: Resiliency in the Built and Design Environment is a hybrid-webinar series that continues the conversations on interior and exterior spaces changed in the new normal. This is a continuation of the NCAAA project that began in the years 2021 and till 2022.

SKL 2023 will be composed of hybrid webinars, an exhibition, and walking tours that highlight the history and significance of selected sites in the context of its community and how they have stood the test of time attesting to their resilience.

SAAN KA LULUGAR 2023 will be held on February 27 at the Metropolitan Theater and March 3 in Cebu City.

Cinema

Cinema Rehiyon, the flagship project of the NCCA – National Committee on Cinema, aims to promote films that tell stories rooted in the culture of the regions. Now in its 15th year, the festival has established its presence in the local and international scene. Various award-giving bodies and national film competitions, such as Cinemalaya, MMFF, and QCinema, have already opened their doors to regional voices.

Cinema Rehiyon 15 will provide an opportunity for regional filmmakers — first-timers, veterans, amateurs, and professionals — to exhibit their films to a wider audience and to provide an opportunity for regional filmmakers to build networks, which will be held in various venues in Baguio City on March through onsite and online activities such as film talks with an online component, online, and on-ground screening and festival, and talkback and round table discussion.

Cinema Rehiyon 15 follows the overall theme of National Arts Month, with special emphasis on Films with Social Commentary and Historical Memory. The project aims to present the best of more recent regional films coming from Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and NCR. This year it will be partnering with Baguio City’s Montanosa Film Festival. 

Dance

Sayaw Pinoy, founded by its artistic director, Dr. Shirley Halili-Cruz, is a touring dance concert and the longest-running flagship project for NAM of the National Committee on Dance, which aims to provide a venue for established and upcoming dance groups from all over the country to interact, exchange choreographic ideas, discover more groups from the regions and provide them opportunities to showcase their works. Sayaw Pinoy hopes to provide continuity for dance. 

Sayaw Pinoy 2023 will be held from February 2 to 4 in Zamboanga, February 19 at the Rizal Park, February 23 to 24 in Kalibo, Aklan, February 27 in San Fernando and Mabalacat, Pampanga, and March 29 to 30 in Bacolod.

Dramatic Arts

17th TANGHAL is a gathering of theatre artists and cultural workers in celebration of National Arts Month 2023. It is an opportunity to recognize the artistic excellence of the theatre practitioners in the Philippines as well as the role that theatre communities play in social and environmental challenges in improving the community life of the Filipino people.

The 17th TANGHAL will consist of two components—the regional live theater performances that will conduct their in-person festival in each island cluster, and the national online festival wherein the performances at the regional festival will be edited, uploaded, and disseminated through online platforms.

Literary Arts

The National Committee on Literary Arts (NCLA) will conduct PANITIKAN NG PANUMDUMAN, a Reading the Regions 3 on-site conference that will delve into the LITERATURE OF MEMORY within and along the strands of Klima (Climate), Kuwerpo (Body), and Kronika (Chronicle).

The conference will serve as a discursive and reflective space to deepen our understanding of memory and to heighten our awareness of some of its most pertinent studies, insights, and possibilities relative to old and new writings. The two-day public plenary event will feature selected resource persons, scholars, and practitioners. National Artists Resil Mojares and Jimmy Abad will be the Keynote Speakers. There will be a tribute to the literary stalwarts of Pangasinan like the late National Artist F. Sionil Jose, Carlos Bulosan, and Maria Magsano, as well as a grand launch of four literary publications by the NCLA.

Music

Musikapuluan: Mga Bagong Tugtugin Natin is the project of the National Committee on Music (NCM) that aims to provide a venue for different music forms and genres from Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and the National Capital Region to showcase their works. The program will enable different musicians, choirs, symphonic bands and orchestras, and production teams to be innovative in these uncertain times, thus the audience will witness performances, concepts, skills, and production of varied levels of content.

This year, to provide more space for artistic expressions, newly created works, and music will be showcased through a 4-weekend program.

Visual Arts

The overall purpose of Bagong Biswal is to celebrate Filipino art and showcase it to a wider audience while spotlighting the relentless tenacity and evolving creativity of the Filipino visual artists’ community and promoting new outstanding creations and community engagements in the visual arts in the present new normal.

Bagong Biswal is composed of Sineng Sining, Sining Sinag, and Sining Biswal.

Sineng Sining features videos from artists/groups from the Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and NCR regions with in-community art engagements related to the following visual arts activities: art therapy workshops, painting workshops, sculpture projects, public art installations, public performance art, new media or video engagements, photography workshops, graphic art projects, street art initiatives, art residency programs, art tourism initiatives, web and animation programs, art festivals, and art education campaigns.

Sining Sinag is a physical art exhibition of selected participants to be mounted in spaces set by the NCVA and conduit organization. Artists’ talks and fellowship activities are incorporated within the exhibition dates. 

Sining Biswal Scene is an introduction of artists and their works, with a discussion on current challenges such as copyright, production, and praxis, return to the native, ageless artmaking, street art now, new media, and exploration of possible solutions.