Artists boost local tourism, mayor says

By Dolly Yasa

BACOLOD City – Mayor Salvador Escalante of Cadiz City, Negros Occidental said local artists and their works boost the local tourism industry.

Escalante underscored this point after the recent launching of the Las Pintas Coffee Table Book and the Saganak Newsletter at the Cadiz City pavilion during the Panaad sa Negros Festival that ended Sunday, April 23, 2023.

About 400 paintings mostly by Cadiznon are in the Las Pintas Coffee book.

Escalante said the launch of the coffee table book is an indication that “virtual arts in Cadiz City is alive and getting stronger.”

He added that it is aimed at promoting the arts and he would like other local government units to do same.

“The purpose is also to highlight, introduce, and expose artists to the work of art,” Escalante said.

He pointed out that “you tap these artists, they become part of your active tourism industry.”

Escalante said that 80 percent of the paintings are made by Cadiz City artists, who had excelled in competitions, while others are residents of Manapla and Sagay City.

The artworks were entries to the Dinagsa Festival 2nd District CaSaMa Painting Competition in January 2023.

The competition aimed to encourage, inspire and reward creative works as well as preserve art and culture in the district and the province.

Escalante said three of the winners in provincial art competitions are now studying in Cavite as part of the prizes they earned.

Four of the paintings, developed and perfected by Cadiz City native professor Rubin Demonteverde, a former arts teacher at the Philippine Normal University, features dances such as pamulad, panulo, manlambus and regatones, which depict how the Cadiznons make use of the bounty of the sea, and how they reflect the local culture and way of life, he added.

“That, itself is a manifestation that arts in Cadiz City is moving forward and gaining ground,” Escalante stressed.

He further said that “these painting pieces build Cadiz’s numerous stories worthy to be told from generation to generation.”