Creative entrepreneurs explore Cebu's artistry

CEBU, Philippines - Close to 50 international delegates from different creative sectors in Southeast Asia are now in Cebu exploring the world-renowned creative competence of Cebuanos, through the formal launching of “Creative Cebu” campaign, initiated by the British Council.

The eight-day “Creative Cebu” drive officially opened yesterday with the delegates going around the creative icons in Cebu, part of which was to witness the furniture products being showcased at the ongoing Cebu International and Furnishings Exhibition Show or CebuX 2009 at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino.

The delegates were also toured yesterday to different furniture manufacturing plants, like the showroom of world renowned designer Kenneth Cobonpue as well as at the “One Visayas” exhibition held at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) to see craftsmanship of the entire Visayas region.

Jay P. Aldeguer, one of the prime movers of the “Creative Cebu” program and known as the creative entrepreneur nexus in the Philippines told The Freeman yesterday that the official launching of “Creative City” Cebu will bring the province to a higher level in terms of capitalizing on the creative industry to spur further economic development in the province.

Today, the campaign will also officially open the two-day festival called “Tubod Fest” at the Ayala Center Cebu---The Terraces, which puts together all the elements supporting the creative industry in Cebu.

The festival does not only display products, but also inviting financial institutions to participate, to explore opportunities or extend funding requirements to start-up companies, especially those that are identified in the OTOP (One-Town-One-Product) program.

A Focus-Group-Discussion (FGD) was also held yesterday in a bid to formalize the Information Technology and Inter-active sector as part of the broad creative industry sector.

According to Aldeguer, Creative Cebu campaign is now trying to work with the Cebu Educational Development Foundation for Information Technology (Cedfit), identifying the players in the inter-active creative sector, such as those software developers in animation, gaming, among others.

Cebuano Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) advocate lawyer Andrew Ong, will also tackle on the importance of copyright in the creative sector industry.

This afternoon’s “Creative Cebu” conference to be held at the Parklane International Hotel, will tackle mostly on how to develop the creative industry in Cebu, with international experts discussing key matters, such as how the United Kingdom (UK) creative industry has developed, and also explore other countries’ success in maximizing the “wealth” of the creative industry.

The “Creative Cebu” campaign is part of the British Council’s “Creative City” program.

The launching of the Creative Cebu, Aldeguer said hopes to address issues in the creative industry here, such as harnessing the skills of the potential talents, and provide them the even the “glimpse” of how “creativity” impacts the economy, across all industries.

Initial plan is to implement a “Big-Brother” partnership between successful companies and micro-creative players.

The lack of avenue for designers, and artists to get together, and learn from each other, is one of the problems that are being identified, why the creative industry in Cebu has not been moving, despite its potential, said Carungay.

Identifying creative entrepreneurs goes beyond jewelry and furniture designers, it includes a huge spectrum in the creative economy, including, industrial graphic artists, architecture, visual arts, performing arts, screen, inter-active web designers, culture and heritage and festivals, film animation artists, among others.

When the British Council was deciding on a place to call its creative city in the Philippines, several places came in the list, including Manila, Silay, Vigan, Liliw, Paete, Davao and Cebu.

After careful consideration, the British Council decided that Cebu was the perfect choice given its history of successes in the arts and its long list of creative Cebuanos recognized the world over.