"Creative City" campaign launch underway

Works are now underway for the launch of the "Creative City" campaign in the Philippines through the support of the British Council to develop the competitive creative industry here.

Businessman Jay P. Aldeguer, who was a recipient of the International Young Design Entrepreneur in London three years ago, was asked to identify the Philippines' creative hub in the Philippines, and he picked Cebu.

Without bias, being a Cebuano, he said that he was proud to push Cebu to become a "creative hub" in the Philippines, as a lot of Cebuanos have made their names in the international market through their impressive design creations, the likes of Monique Lhuillier, Kenneth Cobonpue, Gil Carungay (Avatar), Bigfoot, among others.

Aldeguer said he is currently working with the British Council to identify the players of the broad creative industry in Cebu to hone the skills of striving artists who have big potentials in the international field.

After all, he said Cebu's economy is driven by companies with core competencies on creativity and design, like the furniture, fashion accessory, home furnishings, outsourcing (animation), among others.

Aside from magnifying Cebu's success in the creative industry through the successful international icons, Aldeguer said part of the plan is to organize the entire creative industry in Cebu, including industry players in the publishing, literature, visual arts, performing arts, and others.

He said there is a need to provide a venue for the "starving artists" to make it in the international field. By organizing a sound creative pool here, these stakeholders in the creative industry will put forward the economic development in Cebu, in particular.

Aldeguer made mention of the furniture industry's plight in fighting a lot of challenges over the years, and still come out successful and thriving, because of the excellent creativity and design skills of Cebuano talent pool.

Last year, Aldeguer was part of a tour organized by the British Council to visit the "Creative Cities" in Southeast Asia. He said the group visited 10 cities in the region, which are proclaimed as "Creative City." These include the cities of Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, and China, among others.

The launching of the "Creative City" campaign in Cebu, which is set on March 2009, will be scheduled in time for the CebuX 2009, which will be a fitting venue to flaunt Cebu’s edge in creativity to delegates from all over South East Asia.

There will be 40 to 50 delegates from the Southeast Asian region that will join the launching of "Creative City" in Cebu next year.

This time, Aldeguer said he will work together with concerned government agencies, like the Provincial government, department of trade and Industry (DTI) to organize the creative industry stakeholders in Cebu, including the aspiring artists.

The core advocacy of the program is to put forward the development of "creative entrepreneurship" in Cebu.

Once, organized, Aldeguer said it is easier to hook the creative industry players in Cebu with the world's creative entrepreneur network, thereby providing the industry players with broader opportunities not limited in their home ground.

He said the program would like to organize the entire artists' or creative community of Cebu, in the whole spectrum, making emphasis on recognizing the start-up artists and creative people. – Ehda M. Dagooc