The Cultural Center of the Philippines, Its Programs and Networks
Nikko Zapata
Nikko Zapata shared her thoughts on working for the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) for more than two decades and on her involvement with the CCP's Arts Education Program.
Nikko started young in the CCP and had the opportunity to travel around various communities in the Philippines. She is committed to and passionate about her work, understanding the value of building relationships and the nurturing part of outreach work.
The CCP was set up by the Philippine government, but owing to changes in government administration, it was mandated to operate as a non-government organization, to find its own resources, and to manage its own funding. While this may sound extremely difficult, the people at CCP are trained to be problem solvers and creative thinkers and are expected to come up with new ideas and be innovative.
For the past ten years, festivals and events have been an integral piece of CCP programs. Some of Nikko's programs and projects include Arts Market that provides pitching and business matching opportunities for creative industry sectors: management-intensive sessions that show people in creative sectors the issues that will eventually empower their organization and members and enable them to be self-sufficient; conferences, forums, and roundtable discussions that are flexible and of variable duration and where experts and practitioners are brought in to lead the discussion.
For instance, the Pasinaya Festival is an annual open-house festival and whole-day multi-arts event celebrating various types of culture. It offers a platform to a wide range of groups to show what they have to offer throughout the year. Its main objective is to reach the widest possible audience. The Pasinaya Festival uses a "pay what you can, see all you can” strategy: entrance is free, with a suggested minimal donation of fifty pesos. The festival takes place every February during the Arts Month celebration in the Philippines, and they are proud to hear their network saying, "It's February, and it's time for Pasinaya Festival”.
The Virgin Lab Festival is a festival of untried, untested, unpublished, and unstaged one-act plays. Through the years, the festival has built a strong following owing to its edgy and challenging plays crafted by veteran and new ("virgin”) playwrights. It attracts the newest, youngest voices in playwriting, as well as exciting new directors. It has attracted the participation of the local theater community, stage actors from university and college, amateur and professional actors, and theater company actors. The festival is an annual collaborative project by CCP and the Tanghalang Pilipino, Writers' Bloc, and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.
These are just a few examples of CCP programs, but there are many more. CCP is driven by a belief in artistic excellence and the extraordinary dedication of its people, who consistently create new ideas to transform lives through arts programs. Nikko said she is proud to be one of those extraordinary people at CCP, and she continues to believe in and support the CCP mandate and objectives.