Enriching and colorful showcases of the seven fields of the arts are expected on February 2010 as the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), led by its Chairman Vilma Labrador and Executive Director Cecile Guidote Alvarez, through Ricardo de Ungria, Commissioner of the NCCA Sub-commission on the Arts (SCA), revs up effort for the Philippine International Arts Festival (PIAF) to celebrate National Arts Month (NAM).

Now on its 19th year, Arts Month will bring together thousands of artists from all over the country to cultivate love for the arts and preserve culture in line with the UNESCO observance of the International Year of the Rapprochement of Cultures. It promises to be grand on visuals and enriching in the mind as well.  As arts goes to key cities nationwide the festival, which has gone international, aims to instill the richness of Philippine tradition to all Filipinos. The international component is undertaken in liaison with the IAO led by Deputy Executive Director and Philippine ITI Secretary General Malou Jacob.

According to NCCA Executive Director Cecile Guidote-Alvarez, the Philippines, under the leadership of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, holds the honor of being dubbed by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as the 1st Cultural Capital of Asean for 2010 and 2011. In 2007, the Philippines successfully hosted the heads of states summit in Cebu. Likewise, the Philippine International Theater Center, with the support from the Asean Director General and NCCA, organized the Regional Millennium Development Goals Performance and Media Arts workshop from Ancestral Roots to New Routes of Artistic Expression.