Arts

October 16, 2025 — Back home in the Philippines, Sundays meant one thing — ASAP. I remember tuning in at lunchtime to watch my favorite ABS-CBN artists perform Original Pilipino Music. It was my weekend ritual — a burst of joy, colour, and song before another busy week began.

October 16, 2025 – Philippine Artists Network for Community Integrative Transformation (PANCIT) in Vancouver was formed on the premise that visual arts can convey a concept, a feeling, an idea which may be difficult to express in words or in actions. 

October 1, 2025 -  Canadian Filipino dance artist Alvin Erasga Tolentino leads Co.ERASGA’s production of Eternal Gestures, a trilogy of solo works by Indigenous Coast Salish-based choreographers Margaret Grenier, Starr Muranko and Michelle Olson on October 9 and 10 at the Scotiabank Dance Centre in Vancouver. 

October 1, 2025 -  Starting on October 9, Lasa ng Imperyo  will be on stage at Presentation House Theatre.  Presented by NPC3 in partnership with Rice and Beans, a Vancouver-based theatre company, this adaptation of Jovanni Sy’s A Taste of Empire, performed in Tagalog with English surtitles, was adapted, translated and performed by Carmela Sison.   Surtitles use projection equipment and software (like Captitles) to display live text synced to a performance.

July 16, 2025 — It’s rare to find a children’s book about a terrible world war waged by adults.  The Horse Soldier by Sandie Oreta Gillis is the first children’s book I’ve read about WW II as seen from the eyes of an innocent 10-year old.   What makes it even more significant is that it is a true story of people some of whom are still around today.  And so beautifully illustrated by Filipino artists from the Dimasalang III International Artists Group based in Vancouver. 

July 1, 2025 - The Filipino community in Victoria got a musical treat on June 16, 2025, with the performance of :MEn, the Male Ensemble Philippines, at The United Commons (formerly the Metropolitan United Church) on Quadra St. Filipino Canadians of all ages turned out to welcome the group and enjoy their musical renditions, several of which were sweet reminders of home.

July 1, 2025 — Vancouver opera singer Renee Fajardo has a “love letter” for Filipinos.

July 1, 2025 — In making the documentary Outsiderness, filmmaker Carlo Alcos found what it means to belong.

May 1, 2025 — Rod Pedralba, a prolific Filipino-Canadian artist known for his cubist style, is the subject of a much-anticipated retrospective titled Fragments of Time: A Retrospective of Rod Pedralba, presented at The Gallery at Queen's Park, Centennial Lodge in New Westminster. From April 30 to May 25, 2025, the exhibition explores Pedralba’s decades-long journey through art, memory, and cultural identity.

April 16, 2025 — The Dimasalang III International Artist Group, a vibrant collective of multicultural artists with deep Filipino roots, is making its highly anticipated debut at Art Vancouver 2025, Western Canada’s largest international art fair, scheduled from April 24 to 27 at the Vancouver Convention Centre.