by Rey Anthony Chiu
THE Provincial Government of Bohol opens up a fund window for assistance for culture and
arts development for its towns, one that may go for the records as innovation in local funding
prioritization programming.
Bohol Arts and Cultural Heritage (BACH) Chairman and academician-historian Marianito Luspo
revealed this during the opening of the arts month celebration, February 1, in Tubigon town, some
53 kilometers north of Tagbilaran, said town information officer Raymond Delgado.
Bohol dreamed of becoming a strong eco-cultural tourism destination and has embarked on an arts
and culture program making it as a tool for poverty alleviation, one that reaped for the province its
cultural Galing Pook award.
This has also pushed for the prioritization of appropriating funds for local arts and culture
development programs, Bohol cultural consultant Lutgardo Labad said.
To fan out the flames of enthusiasm sparked the interest in culture and arts, Bohol also hammered
the innovation in cultural empowerment through the BACH, a consultative and advisory council,
which maps out the province’s culture and arts development and policy directions through the years,
arts and culture workers recall.
The council has also recommended for the looking back and reaching deep into the local culture to
provide the people the wells of their artistic creativity, one that would also put in a common source of
national pride, they shared.
The rationale is that people who own a common sense of pride would be more predisposed to
creativity, one that would push them to work for their own empowerment. A whole lot of good things
can happen with this, explains Labad.
On this, local communities start to organize and streamline their arts, culture and heritage
development, conservation and preservation programs funded by their town’s sources. The available
local funds however prove to be too meager to start off the aimed cultural revolutions, culture
workers shared.
The opening up of the financial assistance window is a new development that puts up more hope to
ease up the momentum for development, Labad added.
During the opening of the celebration in Tubigon, Mayor William Jao reiterated his position on the
critical role of arts and culture in development and nation building.
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