BAGUIO CITY – Mayor Mauricio Domogan on Monday said the recently concluded 1st Baguio Creative Festival was a success gauging from the impressive activities mounted and the cooperation it generated from the public and private sectors.
The festival which carried the tagline “ENTAcool!” ended last Sunday after a week-long spread of art expositions, exhibits, forums, galleries and shops of artists and artisans in different venues around the city aimed at showcasing the city’s craftsmanship and creative endeavors.
The mayor thanked all those who contributed to the success of the festival foremost the artists who participated and shared their talents as well as the government agencies and private groups who made the event possible.
While admitting that there are still rooms for improvement, the mayor said that the initial staging did not disappoint especially with the level of cooperation the festival generated from the artists and other sectors.
“We are happy that we fulfilled our aim to make this festival a partnership between the public and the private sectors of the city and thereby showed that indeed with our teamwork and unity, we can accomplish a lot,” the mayor said.
He said an assessment will be conducted among the stakeholders to discuss improvements for adoption in the succeeding editions.
“I myself have a number of suggestions that I’d like to be included in the next festivals but for now I can say that we did not do bad for our first try,” the mayor said.
The festival aimed to celebrate and boost the city’s designation as a Creative City under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Creative Cities Network (UCCN).
It was collaboration between the public sector (city government and government line agencies Depts. of Trade and Industry and Tourism and the University of the Philippines Baguio) and the private sector through the Baguio Arts and Creatives Collective Inc., an aggrupation of local artists from the various disciplines.)
As an institutionalized activity, the art gig is envisioned to become an important event in the city every November.
As the creative community said, “The festival will end but not the creativity.”
By: Aileen P. Refuerzo
