Ani sa Diyandi (October Harvest of Arts at Palm Grass)

Ani sa Diyandi (October Harvest of Arts at Palm Grass)

October 29, 2019

We are very happy that you are with us to celebrate the National Museums and Galleries Month– our partners in our cultural heritage advocacy: The Central Visayas Association of Museums with our resource person MuseoSugbo curator MasiCabanes; the Cultural and Historical Affairs Commission of Cebu; the Diyandi organization; our Bag-ongJunquera partners (UV, USJR, USC, 5 barangays along Junquera St.) that aim to rebrand Junquera street into a green and cultural hub; Bag-ongTeatroJunquera leaders and performers; the trainors of the Junquera St. Children’s Choir; our choreographers, instrumentalists and dancers for our precolonial dance project; Katipunero descendants, Palm Grass Kabanay members, Cebu music artists, Cebu Artists Incorporated, our friends in the media and social media, students, and teachers.

We always said that Palm Grass is the only heritage hotel in Cebu. Our Galeria Independencia at the IkaduhangAndanaHeneral Leon Kilat is a proud member of the Central Visayas Association of Museums.

And we are humbled that in 2016 when we were yet at soft opening, historian Michael Cullinane upon visiting Palm Grass, said to us: This hotel is a monument. He had seen how each floor and each room honor Cebu’s past and Cebu heroes.  We also told him how thankful we are to his book, Arenas of Conspiracy and Rebellion in the late 19th Century Philippines for being one of our main sources in our description of our Cebu heroes found on the wallpaper of each Palm Grass guest room.

Our gallery curator and art consultant RadelParedes who is also a Katipunero descendant has proudly described Palm Grass as a hotel museum. Thus, Palm Grass is not just the only heritage hotel in Cebu.  Palm Grass is also THE ONLY HOTEL MUSEUM IN CEBU. One guest, Dr. Prudencio Reyes, Jr.,a former DTI undersecretary, also told us that this is the only hotel of its kind in Asia!

Palm Grass confidently promises guests that when they come here, they will learn Cebu’s history and culture, right where they stay. Palm Grass, as the only heritage hotel in Cebu, promotes Cebu history and culture through the arts. We do this as we are committed to reconnect our fellow Cebuanos, especially the youth, with our Cebuano roots and identity.

Palm Grass is incidentally located at a street named after the Cebu governor in 1893-1896 who built the first theater of Cebu– Gen. InocencioJunquera.

And we are happy that today, we witness a harvest of arts at Palm Grass:

– Music arts with our new song in an upbeat genre: My Selosa Girl, performed by DMD, a new boy group with Gelo, Hoskin, Jay, Einstein, Clark with actress Carneah; with our young musicians– music composer, RJ Ensalada, arranger Jose LG Fuentes, voice coach J Peterson Villarin;

-Dance arts with the dance performance by our DMD performers;

-Video arts with the My Selosa Girl music video and a short video on visual artist CelsoPepito by our video creator, marketing communications consultant, who is also an advocate of cultural heritage– Prospero Laput of Hong Kong-based Asia Pacific Focus Features;

-Visual arts with the unveiling of master painter CelsoPepito’s painting on precolonial Cebu trade.

Indeed, we have a golden harvest of Cebuano arts at Palm Grass today. But there is more to come in the coming months!

Watch out for more performances of our Bag-ongJunquera youth. This November 13, we shall celebrate the birthday of Katipunan General ArcadioMaxilom. On December 16, we shall remember the showing of the first play at the first theater of Cebu in 1895, now with the performance of the youth of the Bag-ongTeatroJunquera. We will also listen to our Junquera St. Children’s Choir this December as they sing to us Cebuano songs and Christmas carols. In January 2020, we will know the precolonial roots of Sinulog through a dance performance by our Bag-ongTeatroJunquera and a short video tracing Sinulog all the way to Sulu.

In February, another Palm Grass love song will be launched – a duet by TawagngTanghalanresbakerGerlynAbano and Bisrock artist, Ian Binan (of the band Phylum). This song is inspired by Katipuneros who can’t be with women they love when they are wearing the amulet – the vistidora; else, the amulet would lose its power.

Our Bag-ongTeatroJunquera is also set to have a restaging of Abtik pas Kilat, a stage play on the 1898 Cebu Revolution.

And in April 2020, we shall launch the very first children’s storybook on Leon Kilat with a story created by Cebuano children; and with illustrations by a Grade 10 student.

Palm Grass’ commitment in promoting Cebu history through the arts, indeed, is overflowing. And we are only able to do this because of you, our partners in this advocacy. And most of all, because of the Palm Grass personnel who have embraced and are steadfast in the mission of making known the story of Cebu and our heroes.

Once again, thank you for being with us in our quest for a more bountiful harvest of arts in the service of Cebu cultural heritage promotion!

-From the Guivelondo Family of Palm Grass Hotel