The performing arts sector will gain a new platform this year in an event that will bridge business and the arts to bring forth the best in Filipino talent.
The Center for International Expositions and Missions, the export promotion arm of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI-CITEM), will collaborate with the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) to hold the Manila International Performing Arts Market (MIPAM) and CREATE Philippines on September 19 to 21, 2019 at the Tanghalang Ignacio B. Gimenez at the CCP Complex in Pasay City. Dubbed as MIPAM x CREATE PH, the event will showcase performing arts groups and various creatives for exhibits and networking activities aimed at fostering collaborations and creating new business opportunities in the creative industries sector.
“This event is a new path for us,” says CITEM Executive Director Pauline Suaco-Juan. “We want CREATE Philippines to transition from a local event to becoming an international festival for the creative industries. Joining hands with MIPAM is a unique opportunity to introduce CREATE PH to the international performing arts market.”
“MIPAM x CREATE PH will be an excellent way to show what makes Filipino creativity among the best in the world,” she adds.
To kick off the partnership, CITEM and CCP conducted the Business of Performing Arts Capacity-Building Seminar series in select cities last July. Working under the theme Bridging Business and the Arts, this seminar aims to equip performing arts groups with the right skills and tools to maximize their resources and run their organizations professionally. Targeted participants for the seminar are artistic directors, marketing managers and company managers of performing arts groups.
The first leg of the seminar was held on July 2, 2019, at the Little Theater of Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan in Cagayan de Oro City. Hosted by the Xavier Center for Culture and the Arts, the seminar drew over 60 participants from 31 groups based in Cagayan de Oro City and neighboring cities in Misamis Oriental, Davao and Iligan. The participating groups were a mix of school-based and community performing arts groups as well as foundations and events management companies.
The Negros Museum in Bacolod City hosted the second leg of the seminar series, which took place on July 9. There were 58 participants from 40 organizations coming from Bacolod City and nearby cities in the Negros Island, Iloilo, Cebu, and Aklan.
The seminars began with welcome remarks from Hobart Savior, director of the Xavier Center for Culture and the Arts, and Tanya Lopez, executive director of The Negros Museum, respectively. In his speech, Mr. Savior spoke of how performing arts is now changing towards achieving better prospects. “There are now positive alignments in the business aspects of performing arts and arts in general” where performing arts groups can now grow void of any exploitation, Savior shared. These positive alignments are yet to be enjoyed by the stakeholders, however, as they have not yet taken “the right mindset of and for the performing arts,” he adds.
In her remarks, Lopez shared that arts and culture groups must be able to stay in step with the changes around them. “We are right now in the midst of a fast-changing world, and arts and culture need to catch up,” she states. Lopez called it a great opportunity for The Negros Museum to host a seminar on how performing arts groups can manage themselves and think of arts and culture as part of the business environment. “[We are] no longer on the side,” Lopez adds, noting that performing arts contributes to the growth of the community.
Topics included in the seminars are Managing Business for the Arts Sector, Basic Branding Principles and Safeguarding Intellectual Property Rights. The speakers for the seminar series are PJ Lanot, actor, host, entrepreneur and marketing mentor for DTI and GoNegosyo; Alessa Libongco-Lanot, visual artist and owner of Life After Breakfast, a brand and design studio based in Quezon City; and Atty. BJ Palattao, managing partner of the Palattao and Associates Law Office who specializes in art law and intellectual property rights.
In the Managing Business for the Arts Sector sessions, PJ Lanot mentored the participants on how to market their performing arts groups effectively to enable them to create, communicate and deliver value to their target markets. Lanot also taught the participants a basic way of computing their costs and income so they can devise ways to increase their income while keeping costs down.
In Basic Branding Principles, Alessa Libongco-Lanot underscored the importance of creating a brand or signature that will make their group’s identity distinct. Libongco-Lanot gave an exercise to the participants where they created a brand statement for their organization.
Atty. BJ Palattao gave a brief rundown of the various terms and concepts covered by intellectual property (IP) rights as defined by law. He also lectured on the various ways performing arts groups can claim legal rights over their work and how to safeguard their ideas and productions through our existing IP laws.
The Business of Performing Arts series continued on July 26 at the Nicanor Abelardo Auditorium in Malolos, Bulacan, before wrapping up on July 30 at the Mini Auditorium inside Far Eastern University in Manila.
MIPAM x CREATE PH is a complementary exhibition event featured in the Manila International Performing Arts Summit hosted by the CCP in celebration of their 50th anniversary. CITEM and CCP are calling on organizations and businesses in the performing arts and communication design industries to showcase their performance and portfolios by joining the event. To know more about MIPAM x CREATE Philippines or to register as an exhibitor, contact the Creative Industries Division of CITEM at (02) 831-2201 local 227 or email cid@citem.com.ph. Interested participants can also check out the CREATE Philippines (facebook.com/createphilippines) and MIPAM (facebook.com/1stMIPAM) Facebook pages to get the latest updates.
