The Filipino National Commission for Culture and the Arts has launched their National Arts Month for 2005, with a huge variety of activities taking place across the country, and the arts. The theme of Arts month, which starts in February, is “Sining Gising: Crafting Identities for Social Transformation”. Several projects will be launched during February that will carry on throughout the year. The National Committees on Dance, Visual Arts, Music, Architecture, Cinema and Literary arts are all involved, with a variety of competitions, initiatives, performances and festivals. Web Gising, is an internet-based art contest open to Filipinos aged 13 and over. The contest has a strong social conscience, with themes focussing on caring for the environment; creative solutions to the fiscal crisis; poverty alleviation; and anti-corruption measures. Meanwhile, the Committee for Literary Arts is hosting a nationwide, text-based writing contest, open to regional dialects. The arts month will also host the first National Bamboo Music Festival; a three day event featuring seminars, workshops and performances using Philippine bamboo music, while Filipino cinema will be celebrated in a month-long celebration, Cinema Paraiso 3. Classic Filipino cinema will be shown, along with a multimedia exhibit and symposia to complement the screenings. Cinema Paraiso follows on from a month of free cinema in January, which is part of the National Committee for Culture and the Arts’ Cinema Values Reorientation Program (CVRP). The program was the result of a recent study made by the Development Academy of the Philippines, on how to improve the growth of Philippine Cinema. CVRP is aiming to develop the nation’s film culture, and motivate existing organisations into developing further projects. Both Sining Gising and the CVRP are in line with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s policy to highlight the importance of indigenous culture and arts. President Arroyo has said that the arts can be used to crystallise national identity, and also as a tool for human rights, to fight poverty and corruption. The programs are aimed at fostering a sense of national pride, and also a celebration of indigenous variety and accomplishment. The fact that many of them are using cutting-edge technology to foster centuries old tradition is another achievement for the Committee for Culture and The Arts. For more information on Sining Gising and the Cinema Values Reorientation Program, please visit The Philippines National Committee for Culture and The Arts