Arts Festival in the Summer Capital of Antique

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To beat the summer heat and find respite from the worries and uncertainties brought about by the conflict in the Middle East, the Hayahay sa Ambon Association Inc. (HAAI) is organizing the 2^nd Aningalan Arts Festival on April 17, 18, and 19, 2026. HAAI is a non-stock non-profit organization composed of business owners in Brgy. Aningalan, San Remigio, Antique

Now on its second year, the festival is designed to promote arts and culture, and to drive tourism in Aningalan, a place considered by many as the Summer Capital of Antique. The festival logo features the yellow-faced flameback bird locally known as maranday, an engdagered species documented in the forests of Aningalan. This is collaborative art work of Red Haraya and Hoppo Ricarze of Rahmag Artists’ Group, and graphic designer July Farol of Sirena Books.

During the 3-day Festival, various workshops will be conducted that will include fashion design, culinary arts, film making, children’s story writing, poetry writing, and pottery. On the first night of the festival, there will be an Original Kinaray-a Music Concert featuring homegrown singer-composers Dante Beriong and Sammy Rubido. University of Antique will present a patadyong fashion show during the concert. Rahmag Artists’ Group of Antique will also mount an art exhibition and a community eco-installation art. On the second night, there will be a Komposo Writing and Singing Contest for bards based in Aningalan and the neighboring barangays. For three days, Sirena Books and Pawikan Press will hold a mini-book fair for book lovers who will visit the festival.

As an inclusive arts festival, various groups will participate this year: Antique Provincial Tourism Office, Brgy. Aningalan Local Government Unit, University of Antique, Hubon Manunulat (Writers’ Group based in Iloilo), Rahmag Artists’ Group, Pawikan Press, Aningalan Integrated School, and the Bienvenido N. Santos Creative Writing Center of De La Salle University.

This year multi-awarded writer John Iremil Teodoro, a professor at De La Salle University and a part-time resident of Aningalan, is the Festival Artistic Director. Prof. Teodoro is a Bugal kang Antique Awardee and a recipient of various writing awards like the Palanca, National Book Award, and the SEA Write Award from the Kingdom of Thailand.

It is the vision of Hayahay sa Ambon Association to make Aningalan as the center of the arts in Panay Island.