Art

With its almost complete neglect of the arts and culture in recent times, the Naga City government’s decision to join in the celebration of the National Arts Month ought to be welcomed. Agreeing to participate in the Bikol Arts Festival in Legazpi and in undertaking a series of presentations on the performing and musical arts, the city government may yet change its image of being unmindful of the promotion of Bikol arts and culture.
The value of the arts in our communities’ lives is undeniable. Restrict human life to the pursuit of material subsistence and one cannot deem such a life to be human anymore. Such a life belongs to animals which—arguably—have no art and do not appreciate art. For as food is sustenance for the body, art belongs to that group of things which sustains the spirit.
City Councilor Bernadette F. Roco, Chair of the Sanggunian Panlungsod’s Committee on Culture and Arts, has long endured the difficulty of endeavoring to convince colleagues and superiors alike of this value. The official nod to join the celebration of the National Arts Month and to initiate activities linked to it is a welcome development for her committee.
For the city’s artists and poets, this event may yet signal a renaissance of sorts. Struggling to raise the impoverished spirits of those materially destitute, these “agents of the arts” may have found themselves at a most opportune time: local government units such as that of Naga City willing to provide funding and adequate support (instead of the usual lip service) for the promotion and advancement of local art.
Misgivings, of course, exist that the city government’s decision to provide “better” support may be transitory. Even so, the recent turn of events is a fortunate one: it can be built as a precedent for future efforts to make the promotion and preservation of local art a permanent agendum of city hall.
For economic growth notwithstanding, a community that puts no value in art is not so different from a very “wealthy” ant colony.