Acclaimed local artists holding online concert for “Angat Tayo Baguio” drive
BAGUIO CITY — Acclaimed classical artists from this mountain city are holding an online concert on the first day of September to jumpstart the “Angat Tayo Baguio” campaign and raise funds for students and artists affected and displced by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.
Tenor John Glenn Gaerlan, sopranos Stephanie Quintin- Avila and Kay Balajadia-Liggayu and Ingrid Payaket, Season 1 finalist of Pilipinas Got Talent, are among the performers of Crescendo, which would be live streamed from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 1, the 111st foundation day of Baguio City.
The concert will be staged at Teatro Amianan in the University of the Philippines -Baguio, and was designed as a “soul uplifting endeavor” to raise public morale given the stress generated by the pandemic and quarantine restrictions, said concert director Ferdinand Balanag.
Balanag, a filmmaker, has helped develop promotional materials for a Baguio remarketing drive, beginning with a public boosting campaign and culminating with the city’s “rebranding” once the summer capital reopens its doors to tourists.
Balanag said the demands for a no-contact, public health-driven lifestyle to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) requires a reinvention of Baguio tourism.
The city draws large crowds during the Panagbenga Flower Festival, which was first organized by civic leaders to revitalize Baguio tourism in 1995 shortly after the city was devastated by the 1990 Luzon earthquake.
Because health restrictions on gatherings make festivals and parades untenable, tourism projects will now focus on Baguio’s arts given its status as one of the world’s creative cities, and its indigenous cultural roots, Balanag said.
But before inviting back tourists, the “Angat Tayo Baguio” aims to make Baguio City residents feel safe once more, beginning with projects like Crescendo, he said.
The concert, jointly organized by the city, UP Baguio and the Council for Baguio Creative City, has invited people to purchase P300 donor tickets to help UP indigent students and artists and craftsmen who were displaced by the pandemic.
