PIA Press Release
Monday, January 16, 2012 NCCA gears up for National Arts Monthby Easter Anne D. DozaBACOLOD CITY, Jan. 16 (PIA6) -- The National Commission for Culture and the Arts gears up for the National Arts Month in February with the Philippine Arts Festival 2012. Dr. Mike Rapatan, head of the National Committee on Cinema; Marichu Tellano, head of the Plan, Policy Formulation and Programming Division of the NCCA; Rene Napenas, head of the NCCA-Public Affairs; and Information Office and other staff from NCCA were in the city recently to help promote and coordinate the Bacolod City component for the National Arts Month 2012 – the Bocollywood: Cinema Rehiyon 2012. The PAF 2012 is a month-long celebration that will feature the flagship projects of the seven committees of the arts namely: architecture, cinema, dance, literature, music, dramatic arts and visual arts. “Each of the seven committees have a flagship project just like in Cinema, we have CinemaRehiyon which has been a travelling, rotating event. And this year, CinemaRehiyon is hosted by Bacolod,” Rapatan said. Rapatan added that all of the flagship projects are meant to achieve one single objective which is to develop and continue to provide venues for artistic and cultural expressions, especially in reaching out to the youth so they may be able to understand, recognize, take pride in their heritage, in their culture and in the arts. Famed Director Peque Gallaga, President of the Crossing Negros Cultural Foundation, Inc. which is the conduit of the NCCA in hosting CinemaRehiyon in Bacolod said that the purpose of any art is to tell one’s own story. “In CinemaRehiyon we are telling our stories, it’s not the stories of Manila, it is the stories of the other Philippines. It is important because it a cultural thing, it tells the stories of our culture, our home and our souls,” Gallaga added. The annual celebration of the National Arts Month is pursuant to the Presidential Proclamation 683 in 1991 which also declares February as the National Arts Month.*(JCM/EAD-PIA6/Negros Occidental) | 
