By Zschaielle Ainsh Tiglao
To celebrate the creativity and talent of Dumagueteños, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Negros Oriental held the “Creative Konnect Expo” from Nov. 22 to 24 at Chadaa Music and Dreams, Dumaguete City.
The three-day event featured stalls in several creative fields, including arts, music, and digital media with various businesses in the city that showcased their products and services.
Together with DTI Negros Oriental, the expo is also organized by Beetzee.
Anton Gabila, DTI Negros Oriental program manager, shared that the main objective of the event is to, “showcase creative firms and bridge these firms with other creative industry players who may want to collaborate with others who need their services.”
Musicians from the province were also invited to perform live during the event, including Rakkhim Tahir, Shannyn Morales, ABU, and The Lomboys, among others.
The expo is an annual event of the DTI, with different names in previous years.
On previous iterations of the event, Gabila shared that the expo was called the “Dagit Arts Fest” in 2017, and the “6200 Pop Up Arts and Crafts Fair” in 2018 and 2019.
After a hiatus in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, the expo returned in 2022 as “EXPOrience.”
Gabila explained that the expo is part of a three-component Lunsod Lunsad initiative, a DTI program that aims to help the cities become more “competitive.”
These three components are the Artistic Leap Initiative Workshop, the Creative Konnect Expo, and the Beetzee Songwriting and Band Camp feat. Wilfreedo and Hopia.
He said, “The Lunsod Lunsad is a program of the DTI granting funds to programs of cities and their respective creative industry.”
According to Gabila, the Lunsod Lunsad initiative is aimed to contribute to the Philippines’ creative economy by “attracting potential investments, promoting competitive advantage, creating jobs, and exporting cultural goods and creative services.”
