FGIVING premium to local industries, Bohol now girds for the first Sandugo Products and Lifestyle Fair and the creative industry agora: a three fair in one festival aimed to mainstream creative industries as a vehicle for sustainable community livelihood tourism. The streamlined promotional activity is set to open Wednesday July 18, 2007, at the Island City Mall activity Center. The Industry festival is basically a three fair activity comprised of the multi-million Sandugo Products Showcase, the Creative Industry Agora and Agri-Fair with the technology fora that would allow more local entrepreneurs to gain insights on building bigger and brighter future from their lend micro-industries, the festival organizers said. Also thought to be a celebration of the Boholano life, Sandugo 2007 is an integrated activity which adopts an apt theme: “ Pakigsandurot sa Kina-iyang Bol-anon” which becomes a celebration of how friendship, collaboration and partnership can go a long way towards enabling communities to have its share of economic growth and achieve the over arching goal of poverty alleviation, DTI –Bohol sources eloquently said.

The festival runs from July 18- and focuses on the marketing and promotion of agricultural and the creative industries for sustainable livelihood and tourism and would put up Bohol's traditional arts and crafts, indigenous food, fresh and processed agricultural products, eco-cultural tourism products and destinations, DTI Bohol Director Nenita Arbon shared. The festival's main venue is the ICM, but some activities are also spread out to other equally accessible venues that suit the activity: the creative industry forum at the Metro Center Hotel on July 21. All of these are timed for the Sandugo Festival, an annual activity to commemorate the blood compact between Datu Sikatuna and Miguel Lopez de Legazpi: an international model of diplomacy and friendly relations. Previous Sandugo Festivals have been celebrated via a plethora of activities that showcase the past, present and even aspirations (future) of Boholanos through song and dance, crafts and food shows, cultural presentations, agricultural fairs, and the entrepreneurial endeavors of its people. But always at the heart of these annual celebrations are the Boholanos, unified in purpose to survive hardship and poverty through the judicious and creative use of its natural endowments. The celebration is usually a whirl of activities contributed by various government and private sector groups and integrated through a Sandugo calendar that lists the events.

Festival organizers hope that by this, they could decentralize distribution of economic activities in Bohol and establish other growth centers outside of the established areas. Moreover, the festival aims to integrate the promotion and marketing of agricultural and creative industries for sustainable livelihood and tourism. The festival also becomes a venue to showcase Boholano products and services and establish the Bohol brand beyond its borders and keep Boholanos moving towards establishing the Bohol Product and Lifestyle Fair as one of the region's premier craft and lifestyle shows.

Sandugo Product and Lifestyle Fair

The 20 year Sandugo Product showcase has been a Department of Trade brainchild where they can enhance skills of craftsmen and producers and showcasing their products have given them the competitive edge towards maturity, DTI said. Now on its 19 th year, the showcase has garnered a faithful following of major buyers from Manila and Cebu, making local producers generate the orders that enable communities to sustain their craft and livelihoods but also allow the outspring of more entrepreneurs in the creative industry sector. The fair showcases the best of Boholano craftsmanship and ingenuity with indigenous materials such as raffia and bamboo. This year more than 30 local producers will be exhibiting new products after undergoing a 2-month product development process. Moreover, in keeping with the Sandugo spirit, the friendship and collaboration gesture will be extended beyond the BOHOL borders. Participation of producers from other provinces will enable local craft communities and producers to interact and be exposed to ideas and novel processes, exposure to competition will also better prepare them for an increasingly competitive and globalized marketing system. This year's showcase puts up 65 Booths from Bohol, (22), Cebu, (10), Negros Oriental, (4) and Siquijor (3). Booths would focus on loom and handwovens, bamboocraft, fashion accessories, home furnishings, processed food, semi processed materials as well as off the beaten path tourism sites.

Creative Industry Agora

This is a multi-media, interdisciplinary integrated showcase featuring the crafts, agri-products, tourism destinations and programs of Bohol's special 6 emerging productivity circuits. On creative display in six huge tents outside the mall are the 6 area clusters: Northwestern Bohol (from Calape to Talibon), Anda Peninsula and Eastern Bohol (Ubay to Dimiao), Interior Bohol, Panglao island, Abatan River towns and Tagbilaran City. The fair features on each pavilion a blow-up of the sub-regional circuit map showing towns involved with icons on crafts, agricultural produce, cultural assets, and tourism highlights, designated area for crafts display from the cluster with scheduled demonstration, billboards showing tourism establishments, NGOs, POS involved in productivity and in the creative industries and a table for promotional materials and booking rates; More so, the pavilions feature agricultural products and POs with table for information, sales and market linkages designed with major materials, fibers, tools, design elements from the clusters. These showcases will be an excellent opportunity for the new circuits to promote and project their products in a style that is dynamic, creative, interactive, and in an exhibit package that is coordinated and unified, despite its great diversity. The show will aim to converge in a demonstrative and narrative mode how all the line agencies converge and merge with the local NGOs and POS to jumpstart their eco-cultural visions through new, innovative and marketable community-based creative industries.

Evening Cultural Performances, creative economy fora, talk shows, cookfests

In the evenings, a spectacular extravaganza of different artistic forms and media will provide exciting entertainment: a portrayal of development concerns (economic, ecological, social, cultural scenario of present situation) in each sub-regional circuit will be mounted through drama, dance, music, and multi-media. This will dramatize how community productivity and creativity in the arts, crafts, agricultural production, and local tourism will be a strategy of these communities towards attaining sustainable development, thereby reducing poverty in their areas. A one-day forum on creative industries will also be held. This is aimed to develop awareness in the creative industry stakeholders the nature, scope and significance of the Creative Industry in attaining the province's vision of becoming a major ecological-cultural tourism destination in the country. |Such is also to initially establish the Creative Industry in Bohol and its present situation, explore how the Bohol initiatives can link up with the national agencies concerned with the Creative Industry so as to develop greater progress for the province and lend focus on the importance of the Creative Industry and its contribution to the local economy.

A Bol-anon Negosyo talk show also opens to highlight the importance of entrepreneurship towards achieving economic growth and poverty alleviation. Success stories that will serve as an inspiration to prospective and budding entrepreneurs will be its highlight. Furthermore, a cookfest would be held to elevate the level of appreciation, preparation and presentation of the Bol-anon Food/Cuisine. This will be an exhibition by creative chefs (foreign and local) in the province to come up with recipes with an international touch using indigenous ingredients and inspired by local recipes. The idea is to generate recipes for a main course, salad, dessert and maybe a Boholano Breakfast which can be carried in the menus of local restaurants and hotels. The annual provincial agricultural fair is a major marketing promotional activity which highlights the display of fresh, organic, agricultural and processed products. It is an excellent venue for our farmer beneficiaries and local producers to test the marketability of their products and farm produce. The fair will feature crops and other farm products from the different farming communities in the province, which will be integrated with that of the identified tourism circuits. Programmed activities include the Tekno Serbisyo for crops, livestock and fishery, Banana Congress, Forum, and Market Matching / Order Taking. Some of these activities will be conducted in a separate venue.