Sagay City paid tribute to master artist Nunelucio Alvarado as it celebrated World Tourism Day at the Margaha Beach in Brgy. Old Sagay, Negros Occidental yesterday, a press release from the City of Sagay said.
In the event titled “Taliambong kag Turismo: Adlaw sang Pagpasalamat kay Maestro Nune”, the city government took the opportunity to thank the artist through various performances and the passage of a Sangguniang Panlungsod resolution commending Alvarado.
The event, which capped the Tourism Month activities of Sagay, included performances from musicians Ram Martinez, Helen Cutillar, and Brian Ferraro, Northern Negros State College of Science and Technology (NONESCOST) rondalla, chorale, and performing arts group, as well as dancers from Sagay National High School-Special Program in the Arts.
Sagay Vice Mayor Leo Rafael Cueva said that without the initiative of Maestro Nune, the arts and culture movement will not be alive in Sagay.
“It is important that we pursue art because wherever we are, we can create an impact like how Maestro Nune did to Margaha and Sagay City,” he said.
Councilor Arthur Christopher Marañon also read the SP Resolution No. 2022-318 passed by the city council that commends “his passionate and generous imparting of his knowledge and craft to the community which contributed to the development of arts and culture in Sagay City.”
The resolution also stated that Alvarado has hugely contributed to the development of arts and culture in the city and in the country, and in doing so he displayed a sense of patriotism.
Artists Gerome Booc and Arvin Hervias of PintaSagaynon also unveiled a portrait of Alvarado, as well as an installation art from one of Maestro Nune’s paintings.
As a response, Alvarado shared art should remind us how it can be instrumental in making change in our communities, adding that without heart art is nothing.
“Art will never put us down,” he added.
The event was capped with the community singing the song “Haligi” composer by Brian Ferraro which narrates Alvarado’s love for the arts and how it impacted the community through engaging and immersing them through projects like “Painted Matters” and “Diin Tabo Man: Nature Encounter.”
After the program, Alvarado’s Nawong series was opened. Sagay City together with Sinigayan, Boysen Philippines, Sinigayan Choreographers and Designers Association, NONESCOST, Barangay Council of Old Sagay, Purok Officers of Bougainvillea, Bougainvillea Sikad Guide Association, PintaSagaynon, TUP Sagay, Sagay Water District, and other agencies led the Pinta Balay in Purok Bougainvillea, Brgy. Old Sagay.
The area has already been dubbed the “Community of Colors” and became a significant tourism destination of Sagay. Pinta balay is an original concept and design of Alvarado which helped transform the simple community into a work of art.*
