The local government here is eyeing to gather about 2,000 performers and participants for the two-week Iloilo Arts Festival to position this city as a hub for arts and culture.

“For this arts festival, we aim to promote cultural diversity and inclusivity, support creative industries and artists, preserve and promote heritage sites, enhance cultural education and awareness, and strengthen cultural diplomacy and exchange,” festival director, architect Wilfredo Sy, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Its theme, “Creative Collaborations in the Community,” marks the “coming together of various art groups and socio-civic organizations to showcase the diverse expressions of cultural, aesthetic, and economic vitality through the Ilonggo viewpoint,” it added.

The festival will have its soft launch on Oct. 5 to coincide with the “Adlaw sang Ciudad de Iloilo” celebration. It will go full swing with nine major activities on Oct. 12- 26, with a mall as the main venue.

Among the activities are the urban streetscape design competition under architecture with the theme “cool streets,” where participants will be tasked to “recycle void space under a flyover and convert it into a breathable, functional, and culture-center space,” and the reel and reveal a reel competition under cinema, which will involve the creation of short films, highlighting lesser-known heritage sites.

Culinary arts will celebrate the city’s gastronomy scene with such events as chef demonstrations and food-related literary competitions to emphasize deep knowledge of gastronomy.

For dance, there will be workshops and performances and a flash mob assembly set to a mix of curated local and international music.

“The aim of the LGU (local government unit) in conducting this event is to unite people together, encouraging non-dancers to learn dancing, promoting diversity and inclusivity through the universal language of dance,” the city government said.

Dramatic arts are set to take place in barangays or public plazas, along with fashion design or a cosplay competition, a music festival to bring together local musicians and music groups, visual arts, and literary arts to identify, nurture, and highlight local talents.

“This is the third year that we have been doing the Arts Festival. Since this event is headed by the ICLCA (Iloilo City Local Culture and Arts Council), we thought maybe we could integrate what we already have annually,” Sy added.

He noted that among the goals of the festivals is to bag the Pearl Award for the Best Institutionalized Program for Culture and the Arts of the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines. (PNA)