The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) starts the celebration of its 50th anniversary this September, to last until September of 2020. The kickoff activity is a series of conferences under the first Manila International Performing Arts Summit, to be held Sept. 19-22.
Arts and business sectors from the Asia-Pacific region and other parts of the world will coalesce during the summit, which will promote outstanding performing arts productions and talents in the Philippines and the region, and broaden the market for these internationally.
This was announced in a recent press conference at Hotel Jen in Manila, presided over by CCP vice president and artistic director Chris Millado. One-hundred fifty foreign delegates and their 50 Filipino counterparts are expected to attend.
Under the summit, there will be three main events: a conference of the Federation of Asian Cultural Promotion, Association of Asia Pacific Performing Arts Centres (AAPPAC) and of the Manila International Performing Arts Mart + Create Philippines.
Ariel Yonzon, a department manager of the CCP, said “Seventy-eight AAPPAC members from 18 countries seek to establish the region as a center for the performing arts.”
Millado said, “This is the first time for such an activity. Performing artists and artist entrepreneurs are to connect with business and sustain their works. That’s what the premise is all about. It started five years ago, we developed alliances internationally, with international impresarios and came up with a performing arts directory.”
He added, “We organize a small art market every year, business deals. The DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) comes in here. We have Philippine performing arts consortium, 21 venues are involved here. It has been slow, gradual, a convergence of various activities, a unique package. We have established linkages in New York, Hong Kong and Australia.”
The summit conferences will include sessions on cultural diplomacy, arts philanthropy, smart technology and partnerships between the academe and the performing arts centers, the rise of small, independent performing arts spaces and the rise of arts and culture districts and how these enliven the economies of cities. —CONTRIBUTED
CCP tel. 8321125 to 39.
