Iloilo City is gearing up for one of its biggest creative affairs, as this southern metropolis positions itself as an arts and culture hub.
The upcoming 2024 Iloilo Arts Festival, through the organizing committee’s 300-strong members, is expected to bring together about 2,000 performers and participants, as well as 14,000 event audiences.
Themed “Creative Collaborations in the Community,” this event signifies a coming together of various art groups and socio-civic organizations to showcase the diverse expressions of cultural, aesthetic, and economic vitality through the Ilonggo viewpoint.
The Iloilo City Local Culture and Arts (ICLCA) Council, through the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions (MICE) Center of the Iloilo City Government, called for a press conference on Monday, Sept. 30, to reveal the lineup of events.
This two-week-long celebration of art-community spirit is packed with nine major activities: Architecture (Urban Streetscape Competition), Cinema (Reel and Reveal a Reel Competition), Gastronomy/Culinary Arts (Culinary Demo), Dance (Sayaw Kabataan), Dramatic Arts (Eksena sa Barangay), Fashion Design (Cosplay Competition), Literary Arts (Eksena sa Iloilo), Music (Rockin’ Iloilo Music Festival), and Visual Arts (imaginArt: Iloilo Visual Arts Festival).
Architect Wilfredo Sy, festival director, said they integrated among the art festival’s goals the attainment of an ATOP Pearl Award for the Best Institutionalized Program for Culture and the Arts, and the entrenchment of a green Iloilo City MICE Center through the sustainable development goals blueprint.
“For this arts festival, we aim to promote cultural diversity and inclusivity, support creative industries and artists, preserve and promote heritage sites, enhance cultural education and awareness, and strengthen cultural diplomacy and exchange,” he said.
“This is the third year that we have been doing the Arts Festival. Since this event is headed by the ICLCA Council, we thought maybe we can integrate what we already have annually,” Sy added.
On governance and partnership, he assured that Iloilo City, through Mayor Jerry P. Trenas, has been and will always be in a strong relationship with the private sector and other stakeholders, as demonstrated in good practices and shared visions.
Iloilo City’s biggest arts festival will officially take place from October 12 to 26 at SM City Iloilo.
However, it will have a soft launch on October 5, which coincides with the “Adlaw sang Ciudad de Iloilo,” as declared in Regulation Ordinance No. 2020-097. (Pearl Socias/Iloilo City PIO)
