Cebu City is ASEAN City of Culture

CEBU, Philippines - Cebu City will be formally declared ASEAN City of Culture this Friday because of its creative industry and strength in performing arts and culinary arts, among others.

The formal declaration will be held at the Radisson Blu hotel.

Nestor Jardin of the Cultural Center of the Philippines said being designated as the ASEAN City of Culture means more opportunities for Cebu to market its tourism and creative industries in Southeast Asia.

The city will also receive minimal financial support from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Ministers of Culture and the Arts, the organization that bestowed the distinction on Cebu.

A series of activities will follow the declaration, including an exhibit to showcase the best of Cebu’s fashion, jewelry, furniture and virtual arts, a cultural show, and dinner at the Malacañang sa Sugbo.

The next day, the marker of the ASEAN City of Culture will be unveiled at the Family Park in Barangay Talamban, which will already be called the ASEAN Friendship Garden. A tour to Cebu City’s heritage sites will begin at 10am.

Next month, Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. will host an exhibit on Philippine nationhood, which will focus on Cebuano heroes. In September, RAFI will organize a Lecture-Forum on Southeast Asian civilizations and cultures at the University of San Carlos.

The Cebu City Government will also hold the first Korean Festival and Moon Cake Festival.

A series of lectures and forums on ASEAN arts and literature will be held in October. More programs and activities will be organized until the closing activity on July 15, 2012, which will highlight the launch of a guidebook for tour guides that features Cebu City’s landmarks.

“This is an honor we will carry with us forever. We are known as the Queen City of the South and this is now our crown,” said Councilor Margarita Osmeña, head of the city’s organizing committee of the declaration of Cebu City as City of Culture.

Osmeña said the city is also considering of holding an annual celebration that would remind Cebuanos that the ASEAN community recognizes Cebu for its rich culture and history.   - (THE FREEMAN)