MISAMIS OCCIDENTAL (PIA)--"Art is growing here, but the good thing is it’s not dead."
 
Denise M. Aguilar, director of the Culture and Arts Center, La Salle University Ozamiz City, tackled the importance of celebrating and continuing art and seeking support from the community to not just do art for art’s sake but to create with a purpose and actually pay for art, during the Let’s Talk MisOcc, a virtual media forum and e-Talakayan of the Philippine Information Agency Misamis Occidental, February 27.

"Now that I am rooted here, seeing that there are many talented students and people around me, sayang siya kung dili ka musupport. Daghan ra bitaw mutan-aw ana saila (it’s a pity if you don’t support them. Many will watch them). But why not you? Why not start with what you can contribute?" she said.

Their abilities grow over time, as do the energy and effort they devote to their craft. If you are entertained, "you ask yourself, how much are you willing to pay?" the director said.

La Salle’s Teatro Guindengan, an in-house theater group, has participated in and represented the country in international plays, the most recent was in Cambodia in November 2022.

According to Aguilar, the theater group at La Salle University Ozamiz has been established for 15 years.

The National Committee on Dramatic Arts selected La Salle University more recently to serve as the conduit for the 17th Tanghal, the National Theater Festival in Mindanao.

"We have seven participating groups from all over Mindanao: two from General Santos City, one from Kidapawan, two from Cagayan de Oro, and two from MisOcc," Aguilar said.

There is a chance to be healed through the arts.

The school also provides workshops like a "creative resilience building workshop" using creative arts to heal or understand trauma because of the recent massive flooding in the province, said Denise.

Creating something is a form of art. "Kung wala'y art mag-unsa man ka (What will you do if there is no art)?" she explained.

"When you are doing art, you are too focused on what you are doing. When that happens, you forget your problems or distractions in life. That is the magic of creation," she added.

Meanwhile, Philip Concepcion, a Bachelor of Arts in English Language Studies actor, music arranger, musical scorer of Teatro Guindegan, singer-songwriter of Teatro Guindegan and Arts and Culture Center, shared that his goal as an artist is to tell stories.

"Art is my outlet, and dili na siya mamatay kay nasugdan naman siya naa na siya’y liso sa akong kasing-kasing. So dili na siya mawala," he said.

(Art is my outlet; it will not die because it has already started; there is already a seed growing in my heart. So it will not go away)

What is lacking, on the other hand, is love for our own, love for ourselves, he said. "Maayo kaayo ta muhigugma sa lain pero sa atong kaugalingon, wala ta nahigugma (We are very good at loving others, but when it comes to self, we do not love our own). Let’s love ourselves first," he added. (JMOR/PIA-10/Misamis Occidental)