EntaCool art fest set in Baguio Nov. 10-18

Big firms pledge support 

By Aileen P. Refuerzo and Pamela Mariz Geminiano

BAGUIO CITY – A city-wide guided tour of art hubs dubbed “Creative Crawl Tour” will spice up the 1st Baguio Creative Festival (“ENTAcool!”) slated on Nov. 10-18 in various venues.

City Tourism Operations Officer Aloysius Mapalo said the Creative Crawl tour to be headed by the Dept. of Tourism Cordillera will run throughout the festival and will feature a daily excursion to the various creative spaces which were grouped into five “circuits.”

Circuit 1 covers the BenCab Museum which features artworks exhibit and gallery by national artist Benedicto Cabrera and indigenous northern highland artifacts exhibits; Asin Woodcarvers Village (woodcarving and weaving and bamboo crafts); Dominican Hill Heritage Site (venue of the “Kulay ng Siglo” Visual and Media Arts Gallery and Workshop; and the Baguio City Museum;

Circuit 2: Tam-awan Village (An art and cultural village featuring Cordilleran folk art and cuisine, uniquely local solar and sand painting; Easter Weaving (Home of quality hand-woven products now with a wide array of other local handicrafts); Narda’s Weaving and Handicrafts (World-renowned hand-woven arts and crafts); and UP Museo Kordilyera (Ethnographic exhibits and gallery);

   Circuit 3: Villa Romana (Venue of Tinatik Art Exhibits and Workshop); Hanan’chi Creations (An independent art space with installations and crafts made of metal and wood); Philippine Treasures (Locally designed and customized handicrafts and home decors); and OTOP Philippines Hub (Buyers’ showcase and gallery for local crafts products like weaving, silvercrafts and woodcarving);

Circuit 4: Bell House, Camp John Hay (Photo and Art Gallery Exhibition by BenCab in conjunction with the Forest Bathing project of DOTCAR); Pilak Silver Crafts (Locally designed and crafted sterling silver crafts and accessories); Aguinaldo Museum Park (Bamboo installations by Edgar Banasan); Baguio Media Newseum (Interactive edutainment center that focuses on media methods and techniques, emphasis on print, radio, television and the power of the new media; and Creative Brewery at St. Louis University (Metal Art Studio and Gallery by Archt. Dulthe Carlo Munar); and 

Circuit 5: Mt. Cloud Bookshop (An independent bookshop and gallery); Vocas (Victor Oteyza Community Art Space) (A vegetarian café featuring organic cuisines and mini art gallery); Ili Likha Artist Village (An art hub conceptualized by Kidlat Tahimik, designed as a treehouse of various art experiences: gastronomy, independent cinema, art appreciation); Pasakalye Art Space; and Latag @ Malcolm Square (A fair featuring independent local handcraftsmen and street busking and performances).

Open to tourists and residents, the activity aims to drumbeat the city’s various art hubs as tourist attractions.

The Creative Crawl Map used in the tour will also serve as an avenue to build a “Creative Baguio” image and sustain it beyond the festival along with an active online portal among which the official Creative Baguio website www.creativebaguio.com . 

The DOT-CAR said all five Creative Crawls will include transportation and tour guides at a package promo cost of P999 plus a raffle entry if availing of all the crawls although the crawls can be availed of separately.

Each circuit tour lasts for four hours.  Assembly time for circuits 1 and 2 will be at 7:30 a.m. while circuits 3-5 will be at 12:30 p.m.

Daily raffle winners will be given special prizes, which can be claimed at the Latag Fair in Malcolm Square. Winners will be announced daily from Nov 14 to 18, 2018.

Major private corporations are throwing their all-out support to the Summer Capital's newest festival, "EntaCool," which is meant to highlight the city's creative populace from the grassroots. 

Energy sector giant Petron Corp., for one, is getting reinforcement from its five-million customer base.

“Petron Corporation is assuring you that you have our support. In fact, in line with the city's objective, we also want to revive the city's old charm,” Jessamyn Clavio, Petron Corp.'s loyalty sales manager, told Baguio media in a recent conference here. “If you are familiar with the Petron Value Card, we have five million membership base and we will promote the festival to them.”

Last week, Baguio launched "EntaCool," a festival that the DOT in Cordillera hopes to match the Philippine Summer Capital's “Panagbenga” or Flower Festival in drawing in tourists.

Coined from the indigenous word “entaku” (meaning let's go) and cool referring to the cool weather in the city, will be a week-long festival held on Nov. 10-18 each year.

The festival aims to promote Baguio as a creative city, featuring art and cultural exhibits, cultural shows, live portrait sketching sessions, local crafts, talks on culture and the arts, and art demonstrations by renowned local artists.

The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Baguio (HRAB) will also give  perks and discounts to tourists, who will visit creative sites in the city during the festival.

The Private Infra Development Corp. (PIDC), a subsidiary of food and beverage giant San Miguel Corp., is also set to put up ads along the highway leading to Baguio, announcing to travelers that Baguio has remained a safe and fun haven for tourists.

PIDC operates the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX), which has made traveling to the northern Philippines a breeze for metropolitans.

“We are planning to install metal billboards promoting Baguio as a creative city,” Tony Reyes, a representative of PDIC, said at the press conference.

Davies Paints Philippines, Inc. and Pacific Paint (Boysen) Philippines are also painting the town red for the creative arts festival.

Specifically, Davies will sponsor murals on the roads of Baguio City, with the blessing of the DOT, said Jo Ann Viriña, a representative of the paint company.

Other companies that have committed to help promote the new festival are: Victory Liner, Northern Cement, Manila North Tollways Corp., “BEEP”, Max’s Restaurant, and Baguio-based Porta Vaga Mall. The Camp John Hay Development Corp. is also going to cooperate.

 In November 2017, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) placed Baguio in its Creative Cities Network, for the city's distinguished crafts and folk art.

This made Baguio earn the tag “Creative City,” along with 64 other cities from 44 countries worldwide.

The city government takes the tag as an affirmation of Baguio's identity as a city of creative people.

Baguio City remains one the country's top tourist destinations.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in Cordillera said Baguio received a total of 1.5 million tourists in 2017, or 77 percent of the entire Cordillera region’s total tourist arrival of 1.96 million.

With its inclusion on the list of UNESCO creative cities network, the city hopes to draw more tourists, especially with the possible inclusion of “EntaCool” in the list of festivals of the UNESCO.

Councilor Elmer Datuin, chairman of Baguio City Council's committee on tourism, said that the city legislative body has approved the institutionalization of “EntaCool” as a regular activity of the City of Pines. – With a report from  PNA