To many, Bacolod is the city of smiles and the destination of the epic festival Masskara. But to its true-blooded Negrenses, it’s a place where the fun never stops and where good food is actually a destination.
The Negros Season of Culture: Rooted. Taking on the World — a project of the Angelica Berrie Foundation — opens on Nov. 5. The event begins an annual 46-day tradition of bringing together the best of Negrense culture and creativity for the local and international market.
As part of the Negros Season of Culture, The Negros Museum will be launching the following:
THE BLACKBOX PRESENTS
Live performances, especially theatre productions have been strongly impacted by the COVID19 pandemic. Many stage plays all over the country have been postponed and canceled; while some theatre groups attempt to migrate their performances online. However, nothing beats the experience of watching a live theatre performance.
The Negros Museum in partnership with The Performance Laboratory, Inc. will launch The Blackbox Presents with weekly staged readings of plays written by emerging Negrense playwrights. “Ang Mga Raga Raga” features four short plays by Roger Joshua Venzal’s “Kabig” (Take); Venise Buenaflor’s “Tuhoy” (Choice); Racine Genada’s “Panaguay” (Hide and Seek) and Noel Pahayupan’s “Angan” (Perhaps) – that tackle current and relevant societal issues incorporating stories of realities brought by the on – going COVID – 19 pandemic.
ANG MGA ISTORYA NI BAO
A storytelling session derived from the “Ang Mga Istorya ni BAO” interactive tour of The Negros Museum. Adapting to the “new normal” this segment will be the newest addition to our current program the “Panakayon Online” translating our usual face to face storytelling portion into an online platform with the fusion of exploratory and multi-sensorial experience for children in the form of colorful illustrations and use of puppetry. The stories will feature the Filipino and Negrense core values integrating Toto and Inday as role models and BAO as our icon, storyteller, and companion.
CASA A. GAMBOA
The house was built by Aguinaldo Severino Gamboa and his wife, Dr. Alicia Lucero Gamboa in 1939 for their growing family. It has played a part in Silay City’s history.
Feed Our Souls Bazaar
A 2-day bazaar aimed to provide artists and craft folk – who have lost their livelihoods because of the pandemic – with a venue where they can present their creations, and generate much-needed income.
The bazaar will be different because everything will be strictly curated with very discerning criteria. It will not be a hodgepodge of products like you would see at the town plaza during fiestas or Christmas. Instead, it will be an exposition and exhibition of artisanal ware and cuisine that will be unique, novel, and, with a touch of our very own culture and heritage.
Private Dining at Jardin de Alicia
Casa A. Gamboa accepts private bookings for breakfast, lunch or dinner up to 15 people set at the idyllic setting of Jardin de Alicia, the sprawling gardens of Casa A. Gamboa in Silay City.
If you’re looking for the ideal place for a small, intimate, and PRIVATE gathering, look no further. Come to the CASA A. GAMBOA in Silay City and experience old-world ambiance matched with exquisite home cooking like no other.
VIVA EXCON 2020 Goes Virtual
The Negros Season of Culture includes the 30th year and 16th edition of VIVA ExCoN is a Visayas-wide biennale which was started by the art group Black Artist in Asia in 1990 in Bacolod City and whose hosting has since then toured the Visayan Islands every two years without fail. It has become an effective artist-centered blueprint with which other like initiatives have been patterned after.
It was the main goal of VIVA ExCon to celebrate Visayan art by bridging the islands of the Visayas so as to provide a venue to facilitate dialogues, interaction, networking, and cultural exchanges, thus addressing fundamental and relevant issues among visual art communities and related stakeholders. Having accomplished such goals in the 30 years of its existence, it now looks towards the future in ways that can best contribute to the development of the communities it serves.
Given the reality of the 2020 pandemic, the limitation imposed by necessary precautionary measures and the impact of such on the mindset of artists, VIVA ExCon 2020 has recalibrated the festival design to engage creative spirits in a virtual dynamics that is interactive, online and will bring together the creative community to rise to the challenge of the times.
Bigger Than the Sum of Its Parts
The Negros Season of Culture likewise aims to create new public art each year to open children’s eyes to creative work as the source of building beautiful and purposeful things.
The Negros Season of Culture, after all, expands the image of Negros beyond the sugar industry by adding another dimension to the culture of festivals by establishing Negros as a Philippine art hub that people regularly visit to eat, frolic, and experience culture at its finest.
For more information, please visit @negrosseasonofculture on Instagram.
