Kultura fest showcases Philippine culture

Since it started in 2006, Kapisanan’s Kultura Filipino Arts Festival has celebrated Filipino culture, arts, cuisine and heritage.

The festival featured cultural pride and talent of Filipino-Canadian artists. Its programs and activities told the Filipino story through art as a means for empowerment. With support from the Ontario government, Filipino artists, performers and chefs were able to connect to their roots and claim their presence as Filipinos in Canada.

From August 7 to 10, the Kultura Filipino Arts festival in Toronto, Canada, brought fun, artistic, interactive and delectable experience for Filipino-Canadian communities.
Noted chefs Rudy and Basilio provided a delicious dining experience at Get Nostalgic: Kapisanan’s 2nd annual fundraiser dinner on Aug. 7.

The Out Here: Clutch and Nav exhibit which opened on Aug. 7, featured artworks from intensive workshops and art-based cultural immersion programs by young men and women.

A night of poetry was established with emerging Filipino-Canadian poets performing their works at Kabangka on Aug. 8 onwards.

Meanwhile, Filipino historian Carlos Celdran starred in, “If these Walls could Talk,” a two-hour theatrical performance on Aug. 9 and 10.

The Carlos Bulosan Theatre showcased a collection of stories from its canon of work at Tales from the Flipside: A New World Being Born on Aug. 9.

Also at Kain Kalye, visitors were able to savor mouth-watering traditional Filipino roadside dishes served by Toronto’s top Filipino restaurants. There was also a Filipino Street Eats Competition on Aug. 10.

At Kultura Marketplace, authentic Filipino handicrafts made by vibrant and innovative Filipino-Canadian artists and entrepreneurs were on sale.

And for the festival’s finale, festival-goers enjoyed the live entertainment brought by Filipino-Canadian musicians, dancers and spoken word poets at Kultura Live! Stage on Aug. 10.

“We are absolutely thrilled about how the festival went this year. The festival attendance swelled to over 3500 people over the weekend, Filipino-Canadians, as well as a diverse cross section of Toronto and beyond,” said Kapisanan Philippine Centre Executive Director Caroline Mangosing.

“Kultura delivered the best of young, Filipino-Canadian talent in music, contemporary art, theatre, poetry, and food in Toronto, and at a very high level at that. We couldn’t be more proud,” she added.