CCP celebrates 35th anniversary

The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) turns 35 on Sept. 8, 2004. To celebrate this milestone, it has lined up several activities for the day, starting with an annual thank-you lunch for CCP’s media friends. During the luncheon, the CCP will announce the winning entry to the "Name the CCP building" contest.

The new CCP chimes will also be launched during the press luncheon. The CCP chimes are sounded in the CCP theaters and venues as signal to the audience that a performance is about to start. The music for the new CCP chimes is taken from "Prelude Ethnica" by National Artist Lucresia Kasilag and arranged for guitar quartet by Jose Valdez.

The main highlight though of the CCP’s 35th anniversary celebration is the Gawad CCP Para Sa Sining awards ceremonies to be held at 7 p.m. at the CCP Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo.

The Gawad CCP is the highest award given by the CCP to outstanding Filipino artists and cultural workers.

This year, the Gawad CCP pays tribute to choreographer Eddie Elejar, composer Ryan Cayabyab, Philippine Educational Theater Association (PETA) founder Cecile Guidote-Alvarez, movie and stage director Peque Gallaga, broadcast journalist Cheche Lazaro, the late artist Santiago Bose, writer Rene Villanueva, architect Francisco Mañosa, Barasoain Kalinangan Foundation Inc., the late columnist Doreen Fernandez, Mindulani Inc. and Antonio Cojuangco.

The CCP was created in1966 through Executive Order No. 30 and was formally inaugurated on Sept. 8, 1969 upon completion of the CCP Main Building, which was designed by National Artist Leandro Locsin.