THE National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) is hoping that Mindanaoans will be able to apply for arts and culture grants under its competitive grants program for 2027.
As part of its Mindanao roadshow, the NCCA recently held a press conference at Rogen Inn in Davao City to encourage groups and individuals in the region to apply for grants covering 98 categories under four subcommissions and 19 committees.
“Each committee has categories; for example, the Committee on Architecture and Allied Arts has six categories, meaning the categories are the projects,” said Architect Gloryrose Dy, Vice Head, National Committee on Architecture and Allied Arts.
She said Mindanaon artists and cultural workers can apply for the projects aimed at contributing to the development, preservation, protection, and promotion of Philippine arts and culture within their respective regions.
“Cinema has seven categories with 16 slots; dance has five categories this year, and they have nine slots; dramatic arts have five categories and 12 slots; literary arts have five and six slots; and they have an open category. In the open category, they can propose innovative projects,” Dy said.
This year’s competitive grants program is allocated P121.4 million for the 98 categories. This will cover the fields of cinema, culture and the arts, cultural education, historical research, literary arts, drama, music and dance.
Lawyer Karen Santiago Malaki, Assistant Secretary, National Committee on Cinema, hopes that Mindanao filmmakers can tap the assistance given by the grants for their projects, which include regional film festivals, short film productions and film education.
Inna Garcia, Executive Council Member, National Committee on Southern Cultural Communities, said there are nine categories to be opened for 2027.
“There are 30 slots available, so the total amount for grants is five million five hundred thousand pesos,” Garcia said.
According to Benjie Badon, Executive Council Member, National Committee on Cultural Education, there are four categories for the Committee on Communication and four slots.
The projects for the Committee on Communication include the creation of a directory, capacity building, podcast, and radio.
“For cultural education, we have research because commonly in this committee they are in the academe, so if you have proposals for research and teaching festival pwede siya, second one is learning material and development and the last one is policy development,” Badon said.
Windy Cejas, Executive Committee Member, National Committee on Libraries and Information Service, said that under the Subcommission for Cultural Heritage, they have 21 categories and a total of 23 slots.
These projects would include archives, galleries, historical research, libraries, and information services.
For a complete copy of the call for proposals and the categories, you can visit the official site at https://ncca.gov.ph/ncca-competitive-grants-program/.
The deadline for the submission of project proposals is August 31, 2026. PIA DAVAO
