The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) will hold a concert of various artists and performers in celebration of the National Heritage Month.

On May 23, the Taoid Heritage Concert will be mounted at the Ayala Terraces in Cebu City. Featured will be singer-songwriter Joey Ayala, singing Augustinian priest Fr. Jonas Mojares, NCCA Rondalla, and 450 Voices, a choral group.

May has been declared National Heritage Month (NHM). To lead the NHM celebrations are NCCA chair Felipe M. de Leon Jr. and OIC-executive director Adelina M. Suemith.

“Taoid,” Ilocano word for “mana” or “inheritance,” is the flagship program of the NCCA’s Subcommission on Cultural Heritage (SCH) led by Fr. Harold Ll. Rentoria, OSA, who’s also NCCA commissioner.

Father Rentoria’s SCH has lined up activities not only for NHM but also for the rest of the year under the Taoid Heritage Program. Theme this year is “Heritage: New Fruits, Ancient Roots.”

Taoid 2015 will kick off today, May 4, at the University of Santo Tomas (UST), the oldest university in Asia and the custodian of the most complete handwritten ancient Baybayin documents, recently declared by the National Archives as a National Cultural Treasure. Four sites on campus, including the iconic UST Main Building and UST Arch of the Centuries, have been likewise declared National Cultural Treasures by the National Museum and National Historical Commission of the Philippines.

Today, there will be the signing of a memorandum of understanding for continuing partnership on heritage research and promotion between NCCA and UST. It will be followed by the Manila unveiling of the “Santo Niño: Hope of the People,” a photo exhibit initially launched as part of the “Kaplag” celebration in Cebu, at the lobby of the Buenaventura Garcia Paredes, O.P. Building.

The second part of the program will be a film showing of the Apostol Foundation’s “National Treasures: A Journey Through History,” which tells the country’s history through significant heritage structures, monuments and sites.

It will be followed by the roundtable discussion on heritage organized by the UST J. Elizalde Navarro National Workshop on Critical and Cultural Heritage Studies. Discussion will be on “Standards on the Conservation of Heritage Churches.”

Discussion will be held at the second-floor ballroom of Buenaventura Garcia Paredes Building (old UST Gym). It is open to the public.

Other Taoid activities:

“National Treasures: A Journey Through History” will be shown at the Rizal Park Open-Air Auditorium on May 8 at 6 p.m. and at the NCCA building on May 11 at 11 a.m.

On May 11, “Kristo Manila” will be unveiled at the NCCA Gallery. The annual presentation, organized by The Artery of Manila, features contemporary art works interpreting the passion and death of Christ.

On May 6 to 10, the Tam-awan Village in Baguio City will mount for the sixth time the Tam-awan International Arts Festival. Theme: “A Global Cordillera: Heroes, Legends and Treasures.” Included will be Ayala Museum’s exhibit, “Rueda de la Fortuna.” There will be workshops on watercolor, coffee painting, and kite making and design; and talks and lecture on the National Heritage Law, curatorship, Cordilleran games by professor Ike Picpican, curator of the Saint Louis University Museum; demos of traditional games around the country and from Korea; Cordilleran; and cultural performances.

On May 16 to 31, Taoid activities will be held in Cebu, such as the “Kristo Niño” exhibit by the NCCA National Committee on Art Galleries; storytelling session by the National Committee on Libraries and Information Service; local history writing workshop by the National Committee on Historical Research; training-workshop on archive management by the National Committee on Archives; and “Gabii sa Kabilin” of the National Committee on Museums. Also this May, the NCCA will hold cultural profiling and mapping around the country.

Proclamation No. 439 was signed on Aug. 11, 2003, declaring May as National Heritage Month.

Steering committee of the Taoid Heritage Program 2015 is composed of Fr. Rentoria, OSA, head of SCH and the National Committee on Archives; Stephen S. Totanes of the National Committee on Historical Research; Lucille Karen E. Malilong-Isberto of the National Committee on Monuments and Sites; Marilou P. Tadlip of the National Committee on Libraries and Information Service; John Delan Robillos of the National Committee on Art Galleries; and Amado R. Alvarez of the National Committee on Museums.

For more details, contact NCCA Public Affairs and Information Office head Rene Sanchez Napeñas, 5272192 or 0928-5081057. Log on to www.ncca.gov.ph or e-mail [email protected].