Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said Bacolod City is aiming to make its annual MassKara Festival in October not just the festival of choice nationally, but globally.
So his instructions to Yuhum Foundation, the organizer of the 45th edition of the festival, is to make it bigger and better, Benitez said during its launch at L’ Fisher Hotel in Bacolod City on Saturday, August 17.
“We have to raise the bar and upstage last year’s performance…my instructions all the time is to make it better than last year,” he said, of this year’s Sapphire Edition.
“This 2024, we are starting to bring in international entertainment. We are creating awareness in the international communities. Hopefully the tourists who will come are not just local, but international as well,” he said.
“The awareness of the MassKara, with its international exposure, is much much higher than it ever was”, he said.
“Our MassKara street and arena dance competition is world-class. When people see it, they are amazed,” Benitez said.
The Bacolod City government is allocating P11 million for this year’s festival, which will include support to participating barangays, Benitez said. This will be on top of corporate sponsors’ contributions.
The 45th MassKara Festival will start with a “salubong” (welcome) on Oct. 11 and culminate with the street and arena dance competition on Oct. 27.
Benitez said eight more events have been added to this year’s MassKara Olympics to be held in the first week of the festival. A lot of senators are sponsoring the events this year, he said.
There is always an open invitation for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his family to join the festival, he also said.
The festival organizers said the four confirmed sites for this year’s festival are the Bacolod City Government Center grounds, Bacolod Public Plaza, Lacson Tourism Strip and Megaworld’s The Upper East.
The old Bacolod airport may also be a fifth site.
The venue for the arena competition is still being determined.
The Bacolod Yuhum Foundation led by its president Katherine Matiling, unveiled this year’s official logo – a colorful mask similar to last year’s with added elements, highlighting the message of sustainable development.
We took the challenge and have taken the lead in using the MassKara Festival logo as a platform to promote conservation, environmental awareness, and sustainability, Kuster Cadagat, Yuhum Director for Culture and Arts, said.
It was designed by Myish Endonila in consultation with Lisa J. Paguntalan, executive director of the Philippines Biodiversity Conservation Foundation.
The MassKara music has also been rearranged and the new music video will be released in a few weeks, Matiling said.
Honored at the Sapphire celebration launch were people who contributed to the birth the MassKara Festival.
Honored were festival founder – the late mayor Jose Montalvo, and co-founder artist Ely Santiago, who designed the first festival logo, the first MassKara Queen Cissi Villacin, and choreographer Donna Porter.*