Muni on this:
“Is it possible to promote peace through good music, art, and food?”
In a press conference held in Pino/Pipino Restaurant along Jupiter, Makati, Marco Lobregat of President & CEO of Ministry of Mushrooms, Inc. and Raph Keifer, executive producer for LUNA Musikalawaig, Cagayan de Oro/Bukidnon, presented their vision and advocacy behind the festival.
This collaboration between Good Karma Productions, Muni Productions and Ministry of Mushrooms Inc. aims to bring peace in Northern and Western Mindanao through two festivals offering art, music, tourism, community, workshops and food: Luna Musikalawaig in Cagayan de Oro from April 26-28 and Paz Musica del Mar in Zamboanga City from April 28-May 1.
Luna Musikalawaig and Paz Musica del Mar
Luna Musikalawaig, now on its second year, will take place in Ki Bathala Gardens in Sitio Balaon, Barangay San Isidro, Talakag, Cagayan de Oro from April 26-28. Last year’s festival garnered more than 400 people and this year Luna Musikalawaig is back with a new team but with the same cause.
The second leg of SPF13 is Paz Musica del Mar will take place in Vista del Mar Resort, Zamboanga City from April 28-May 1.
Birthed from the advocacy of Marco Lobregat, the festival will come along side with a Summer Food Fair and Weekend Market for the month of April. In partnership with Solane, seven chefs and Zamboanga’s most well-known food establishments and educational institutions will collaborate to create special dishes that will fall under the following categories: Zamboangeño Favorites Revisited, New Zamboangeño Favorites, Mucho Mucho Mushrooms, and Superfood Special.
Chef Edward Bugia, who was responsible for the food catered to the press, will be one of the chefs that will be involved in the food fair.
Marco Lobregat with Solane Chef Edward Bugia
L-R: Enoki salted caramel donut, Portobello beef burger, Honey truffled popcorn prepared by Chef Ed Bugia for the media event
Many bands and artists will be performing and presenting their art in the name of peace. Workshops, which include tie dyeing, fire dancing, recycling, yoga, and lectures on food nutrition, and other activities will be provided as well.
Pushing for the vision of peace
The SPF13 team hopes to expand and spread their advocacies to have other cities in Mindanao to join in.
“We’ll try to make it also very more unique to the city at least like how Cagayan has tree planting specifically because of Sendong, because the nature issue. Another area might have a different issue, different things that we can tackle by bringing in people that do good with what they do and spread to others, whether it’s music, whether it’s art, kids’ workshops, even tourism brings people together,” said Marco.
Marco Lobregat shares the vision behind SPF13
Mindanao has been the victim of negative coverage from mainstream media, which predominantly shows the violence and corruption in the area. What the SPF13 team hopes to achieve is to show that Mindanao is not all that it has said to be, it can be, and is a good tourist destination.
As Raph Keifer said in the press conference, just because one place in Mindanao is overshadowed with violence, doesn’t mean the rest of Mindanao is like that as well.
This advocacy is all well and good, and hopefully the SPF13 team will continue to promote this throughout the festival. The challenge is for them to not get lost in the fun and forget what they are doing all this for in the first place.
Peace isn’t easy to achieve especially if years and years of history has added up to the current reputation of Mindanao. Is it possible that with small steps like SPF13, it can slowly find much needed peace?
Summer Peace Festival 2013 Website: www.summerpeacefestival.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/SummerPeaceFestival Twitter: www.twitter.com/SPF13Festival SMS: +63932 715 9937
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