Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan, like all the other Ateneos in the Philippines, prides itself in producing “men and women for others”. When it was established in 1933 as Ateneo de Cagayan, it already stressed the importance of exposing its students to different sectors and the community. Today, XU continues to be of service to others as its students now have more venues and programs that expose them to the community.

One of these venues is the Xavier Center for Culture and the Arts (XCCA), which is headed by Hobart P. Savior.

The XCCA is XU’s venue or platform for its culture and arts programs. Its main purpose is to serve as some sort of a bridge for social outreach and formation programs, its students and the whole XU community. It conceptualizes and implements different programs that cross different sectors. XCCA’s programs include:

• Museo de Oro (art exhibits, research and training, Ethnographic and Archeological exhibit and archive, summer arts workshops, outreach and education and new media arts)
• Music Program
• Artistic Excellence and Production, including performing arts and visual arts
• Culture and Development
• Cultural Education
• Culture and Arts: Research, Documentation and Publication; Support Service Program

XCCA’s cultural season begins in June and ends in May of the following year. Last year, from June to December, the XCCA came up with a number of interesting activities like arts exhibits by local artists, film festivals, a playwriting workshop, a photography exhibit and Cinemagis 4 among others. For the rest of the 2010-2011 cultural season, XCCA’s schedule is as follows:

January 26 to 29:

Cinemagis: 3^rd Northern Mindanao Digital Short Film Festival

February:

Panaghugpong 3 (A Xavier Arts Festival featuring Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero’s Ulirang Tahanan,

a Cagayan Song Festival,  Kulturock 3 and Xavier Spanish Dance Festival)

March 27:

1^st Cagayan de Oro Mono Drama Festival (in celebration of World Theater Day)

April:

Sining sa Tag-Araw (featuring summer art workshops and Museology and Archeology workshops)

April 23:

Booklat Reloaded

May 6 to 7:

Sining Kambayoka’s Usa Ka Damgo (a Mindanao set of Shakespeare’s A  Midsummer Night’s Dream)

May 18:

Kabuwadan 3 (International Museum Day and National Heritage Month celebrations)

Given all these interesting and exciting activities, XU’s students have all the reason in the world to smile from ear-to-ear; they have the best of different worlds!

If you want to experience XCCA’s cultural offerings, all you need to do is contact them through (088) 8583116 local 2059. Visiting their office at the XU Corrales Avenue campus is also a good idea. If XCCA Director Hobart Savior is not around, there’ll always be somebody willing to help you out with whatever you need. You may also want to visit Museo de Oro and look for museum curator Dr. Erlinda M. Burton.

You may also want to check out the XCCA page on the XU website.

Xavier University has long been doing its share in uplifting the culture and arts community of Cagayan de Oro. It is about time we Kagay-anons take heed and join the thousands of Ateneans in supporting XCCA’s worthwhile programs.

-by Maia Fortich-Poblete-

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 5th, 2011 at 10:43 am and is filed under Music and Arts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.