Baguio Arts Festival

The Baguio Arts Festival is a yearly international event held from November to December in Baguio City, Philippines. The festival aims to gather and showcase different artists and arts from around the world. And so, an overview of each participating country’s art and culture is also provided.

The Baguio Arts Festival features a wide variety of fields or artistic media. These include fine arts or visual arts, performing arts, and ethnic arts. Visual arts, in turn, cover photography, sculpture, art installations, and film. Performing arts, on the other hand, cover poetry reading and performance poetry, music, and modern dance drama). Famous Philippine artists like BenCab and Kidlat Tahimik had been part of the festival. Group shows of paintings and installations, film showing, dance troupe performances, and digital art shows are just some of the activities done during the festival.

The first Baguio Arts Festival was held in 1989, with the objective of fostering and promoting local talents as well as to turn the city into a premier venue of artistic gathering . Organized by the Baguio Arts Guild and supported also by the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and the country’s Department of Tourism, the theme of the Baguio Arts Festival often revolves around social issues.

Other than a showcase of arts, the festival also holds workshops, talks by artists, and art lectures. A parade of participants also takes place. Jewelries made of silver and ethnic fabrics are familiar sights during the festival.

The festival is set in Baguio’s Botanical Garden (also called Igorot Village), which has a gallery resembling Igorot native huts. The Botanical Garden is located in the eastern part of downtown Baguio, flanked by the Pacdal Circle and Teacher’s Camp. The festival’s gallery has thatched walls made of mud while window walls were constructed using used wine bottles. There’s also an exclusive area where artists can work. For visitors who’d like to bring home with them a memento of the festival and of Baguio, souvenir stalls and gift shops are found also in the gallery.

The Baguio Arts Festival held yearly from November to December in the “City of Pines” is something to see. The festival, held in Baguio’s Botanical Garden, is a celebration of local and international craftsmanship in performance and visual arts. From paintings to music to dances to digital art and more artistic media, the Baguio Arts Festival has established itself as the premier international event in the Philippines.