National Arts and Crafts Fair returns this October | New Day
Get ready to be amazed by the Philippines' rich cultural heritage of indigenous products and traditions at this year's National Arts and Crafts Fair. Its much-awaited comeback is finally happening from October 4 to 8 at SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City.
And to tell us more is Supervising Trade Industry Development Specialist Emerson Labang.
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And to tell us more is Supervising Trade Industry Development Specialist Emerson Labang.
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00:00 Get ready to be amazed by the Philippines' rich cultural heritage of indigenous products and traditions
00:06 at this year's National Arts and Crafts Fair.
00:08 Its much-awaited comeback is finally happening from October 4 to 8 at the SM Mega Mall in Mandaluyong.
00:14 And to tell us more, joining us live is Supervising Trade Industry Development Specialist, Emerson Labang.
00:19 Emerson, good morning.
00:20 Good morning, sir.
00:21 Okay, now this is pretty exciting.
00:23 It's been a while since our NACF was held, but take us back to why this was organized in the first place way back in 2016,
00:32 if I have my facts right.
00:34 What inspired this project and how did it finally come to life back then?
00:37 Well, actually, the DTI National Arts and Crafts Fair is the flagship program of the DTI National Government
00:42 in promoting and marketing the Philippine arts and crafts, the Philippine creative industry.
00:47 So since 2016, we've conducted five National Arts and Crafts Fair.
00:51 So this is fully supported by the Office of Senator Legarda.
00:54 And we have generated more than 114 million sales.
00:58 So that support actually shows how our consumers and buyers are supporting the creative industry.
01:04 And I think it really does sort of show our products and our unique sort of indigenous traditions in the best light, obviously.
01:14 We had this difficult period a couple of years ago.
01:18 You know, the Arts and Crafts Fair had to sort of take a backseat.
01:22 Many of these larger fairs sort of found a way to do it online.
01:26 Was it not something that we wanted to explore?
01:30 And this time off and finally coming back again this year means that we've had a lot of time to prepare.
01:35 It's going to be bigger, it's going to be better.
01:38 What are we looking forward to?
01:40 Well, definitely the pandemic affected our creative industry negatively.
01:45 So during the pandemic, we tried to create the digital mall for the National Arts and Crafts Fair.
01:49 So that's in partnership with an e-commerce platform.
01:52 And this time, I think our viewers or our buyers from all over the country can still experience the physical show.
01:58 So we have this online catalog where it can be used for business matching.
02:03 And they can directly contact our indigenous communities and then make transactions so they can get the best of the cultural products that we have.
02:10 Right. You know, I always pointed out that the pandemic sort of made us realize just how important the online aspect of events like this truly is.
02:19 It brings what we have to offer to a much wider audience all over the world.
02:24 Yes, definitely.
02:25 But there's nothing quite like attending in person.
02:27 What are we in for in this particular iteration of the NACF?
02:33 Well, definitely, since we are looking at promoting the traditional arts and crafts that we have, we'll be featuring a lot of indigenous communities here.
02:40 So they'll be bringing the best of hand-woven products, Philippine fabric, Philippine textiles, and even different kinds of arts.
02:49 So we have several pavilions, especially the School of Living Traditions.
02:53 That's with the full support of the Science Center of the Philippines and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.
02:57 And the Gamaba, that's the Gawad sa Manilikanang Bayan.
03:00 So that's the highest honor that we give to Filipinos because of their outstanding work for preservation of cultural arts.
03:08 We've got so many to choose from because we have so many talented craftsmen, artisans, and so many unique crafts that are great reflections of just how talented we really are.
03:20 How do you choose?
03:21 I mean, from the many micro, small, and medium enterprises out there, the many crafting traditions, how do you handpick those who actually take part in the fair's return?
03:31 Well, actually, the special portion of this National Arts and Crafts Fair, these are the beneficiaries of the Culture and Arts Program of Senator Lauren Legarda.
03:39 And, of course, these are assisted MSMEs, micro, small, and medium enterprises of the DTI.
03:45 So we have provincial and regional offices.
03:51 So our MSMEs from all over the country can have the opportunity to feature and showcase their best products, especially our local artisans, because we'll be supporting the Philippine creative industry through the NACF.
04:02 Fantastic. I mean, it's not obviously just a walkthrough display.
04:05 There's also going to be opportunities to see or listen to business talks.
04:09 There's going to be workshops, demos.
04:12 You really get to see our living traditions, you know, actually being lived out in a physical space.
04:18 It's going to be fantastic.
04:19 So go ahead, Emerson, invite everybody to this awesome event that's finally making a comeback.
04:23 Thank you for the opportunity.
04:24 And we're inviting our viewers, our buyers from all over the country to visit us at the National Arts and Crafts Fair.
04:29 So this will happen this week, October 4 to 8 at Megatrade Halls 1 to 3, 5th Level SM Mega Mall here in Mandaluyong City.
04:37 And I'm sure you don't want to miss the activities that we have at the physical show.
04:42 So please visit us, our Facebook page, our social media channels, so you can get updated with the latest updates and the live activities at the physical show.
04:49 Okay, it's going to be awesome.
04:50 And really, we have so much to be proud of.
04:53 Emerson, thank you so much for being with us here this morning here on New Day.
04:56 new day.
04:56 Bye.