1st National Youth Forum on Heritage

Young heritage experts, scholars, advocates and workers will gather and discuss the youth’s role to the documentation, conservation and promotion of the nation’s natural and cultural heritage through the 1^st National Youth Forum on Heritage (1NYFH), to be held from November 11-14, 2015 at the Philippine High School for the Arts, National Arts Center, Mt. Makiling, Los Baños, Laguna.

1NYFH envisions “A Filipino youth aware of his or her identity by appreciating , conserving and promoting the nation’s past, culture and natural resources and drawing inspirations from these which leads to action” fostering active youth involvement in increasing the community and fellow youth’s awareness on heritage-related laws such as the National Cultural Heritage Act of 2009, and integrating heritage in various youth programs and initiatives, regardless of professional background and field.

With the theme “Entering the Future Remembering the Past,” an echo of Rizal’s epigraph to his play, El Consejo de los Dioses: “Con el recuerdo del pasado entro en el porvenir” (“I enter the future remembering the past”), 1NYFH is designed to serve as platform both for the Filipino youth advocate for heritage and the stakeholders of Filipino heritage.

Comprising the Eighty (80) delegates are 57 youth representatives from the 18 regions along with 23 sectoral representatives, e.g. agriculture, art conservation, health, from the 238 applicants screened by the NYFH Secretariat.

The formal opening will take place at the Cultural Center of the Philippines followed by a flower offering at the Young Rizal Monument at Rizal Shrine Calamba. Upon arriving at the PHSA, Pares- parehan will follow as a custom for lodging visitors to make offerings to Maria Makiling (a guardian spirit of nature by the ancient Tagalog.)

The forum proper is set to start Day 2 for an artful and stately tone the rest of the session. The forum starts with the Keynote Address by Felice Prudente Sta. Maria, an internationally awarded author and former commissioner to the Unesco National Commission of the Philippines and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, to be followed by four simultaneous forums: Forum on Heritage Contexts (a discussion on diversifying the definition of heritage inclusive of intangible, natural and documentary heritage), Forum on Youth Initiatives on Heritage (looking at current youth initiatives and grant opportunities), Forum on Heritage and Sustainable Development (focusing on sustainable tourism and the role/responsibilities of the creative industries in heritage), and Forum on Heritage Research and Documentation (providing strategies for research and cultural mapping). “Maski Nanu,” a Kapampangan phrase for anything goes will be held at night where the delegates can share to the plenary their advocacies and projects.

Dialogues on Heritage Education, Documenting, Conserving and Promoting Local Heritage fills Day 3. The day ends with a closing program at Makiling, to be followed by a simple candle lighting uttering simple commitments to nation-building and heritage conservation and promotion

Day 4 is the Departing Program, Museum Tour and the Premiere Screening of “Mabini: Talino at Paninindigan,” a belated documentary on Mabini’s 150^th birth anniversary at the Mabini Shrine Tanauan, Batangas, produced by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines. The Closing Ceremonies will be held at the National Museum of the Philippines.

The 1NYFH is the brainchild of The Outstanding Students of the Philippines Region 3 Alumni Community of Heroes Inc., in collaboration with Project Saysay and TOSP Foundation, Inc. (formerly RFM Foundation, Inc.). It is co-presented by Philippine High School for the Arts and National Commission for Culture and the Arts, with the support by National Historical Commission of the Philippines, Cultural Center of the Philippines, and National Museum of the Philippines.

Other participating partners are Cityneon Philippines, Red Root Artists Cooporative, Creative Voices Production, Pamana Ph, RockEd Philippines, Phinma National Scholarship Program, and Philippine Historical Association.