OZAMIZ CITY, MISAMIS OCCIDENTAL, July 24 (PIA)--The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Culture and Arts Office of La Salle University conducted a one-day 2020 Call for Project Proposal Orientation & Technical Assistance Workshop at the Banquet Hall, La Salle University, Ozamiz City on July 24.

Anchored in its vision: Filipino culture as the wellspring of national and global well-being (Ang kalinangang Filipino ay bukal ng kagalingang pambansa at pandaigdig) and aligned with the Philippine Development Plan on Culture (Promoting Philippine Culture and Values).

This technical assistance is intended for artists and cultural groups, DepEd schools and LGUs in the Northwestern Mindanao Area, cover the Provinces of Misamis Occidental, Zamboanga del Norte and Zamboanga del Sur.

In her welcome message, NCCA Committee Member, Dr. Chiedel Joan Santiago said "As one of the members of NCCA, I'm so happy, delighted and quite excited because in this part of the Mindanao we will be expecting more proposal and if this proposal will be approved there will be more culture and arts projects in Mindanao.

She added, "It is also the mission of the NCCA to reach communities especially the communities wherein the culture and the arts is not yet introduced or even not be empowered."

"Through this workshop, I am hoping that there will be more project proposals to be submitted to NCCA," she said.

The program grants aim to encourage the preservation of culture and to unleash new artistic creation by allowing artistically-inclined individuals and groups to come up with their own unique and quality projects.

For individuals, it could be an exhibit, newsletters, research paper, dance, dramatic and literary arts, visual arts, film and cinema, etcetera.

While for groups or organizations, proposals could include conducting summit, trainings or offer programs that are related to arts and culture.

Culture and Arts Officer, Michaela De Castro said that the proposed project proposals will undergo thorough review and evaluation before it will be approved for implementation next year.

She added that different committees are preparing and working for the generation of entries from different regions and areas nationwide.

De Castro added that interested participants should submit a letter of intent to NCAA with the proposal that will be submitted to the Planning Policy Formulation and Programming Division (PPFPD).

Meanwhile, Culture and Arts Officer, Anne Kriz Cortez also said that the commission is seeing this in a very competitive level.

"We really advised those interested to compete on specific category," she said.

Once the proposal is approved, the recognized projects will be funded depending on which categories they belong to.

The NCCA created different sub-commissions that will prioritize specific categories in order to easily identify the different and various projects being proposed.

These sub-commissions include arts, heritage, cultural dissemination, and cultural communities and traditional arts.

About P75 million is allocated for the program grant nationwide. (Shaine Mae R. Nagtalon/PIA MisOcc)