THE City of Bago will play host to the National Arts Month celebration for 2019.

National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) executive director and Negrense Marichu Tellano said this during a press conference paneled by Arts Month prime movers Shirley Halili-Cruz of the Halili-Cruz School of Dance; Rudy Reveche, artistic director of the Colegio San Agustin Bacolod’s Culture and Arts Program; and Clem del Castillo, representing Bago City.

Tellano said she is pleased that Bago City took the challenge to host the kick off of the National Arts Month celebration aligned with NCCA’s thrust to bring the resources of the national government to the regions specifically here in Negros Occidental.

According to Tellano, for 2019, as a kick off, two big projects will be brought to the province - one is the launching of the National Arts Month in Bago City on February 1 as well as the opening of the scholarships for artists dubbed “Hanas,” a local term for training, which will be hosted by Colegio San Agustin-Bacolod.

Meanwhile, Halili-Cruz said in the past, the National Arts Month launching is always done in Manila but this 2019, it will be launched in Bago City for Visayas which will showcase different art forms like dance, literary, music, visual arts, and architecture.

After the launch, the Halili-Cruz School of Dance will also do “Sayaw Pinoy.”

“Sayaw Pinoy,” according to Halili-Cruz, is a touring dance concert featuring different dance forms – folk dance, ballet, neo-classical, contemporary, hip-hop even flamenco.

The National Arts Month grand launching will be on February 1 in the morning while the “Sayaw Pinoy” dance concert will be in the evening of February 1 before moving on to other host cities in the province. (PIA)