EcoArts Festival all set to dazzle this Friday

The Division of Environmental Quality, in collaboration with several public and private organizations and volunteers, is all set for the first-ever “Eco-Arts Festival” this Friday. It will be an arts event with emphasis on environmental awareness and protection.

The Eco-Arts Festival will kick off at 6pm with a brief opening ceremony at the amphitheater of the American Memorial Park. The festival will run on July 29, 30 to 31. The closing and awarding ceremony will be on Sunday also at 6pm.

Program coordinators Fran Castro and Tina Sablan and DEQ public information officer Reina Camacho invited the business sector to participate in the event during the weekly Saipan Rotary Club meeting at the Hyatt Regency Saipan yesterday.

Castro said activities for the festival will include the Battle of the Bands, Film Festival, Sculpture Park and Visual Arts Gallery, EcoDrama Performance, Cook-a-Rainbow Challenge, Poetry Slam and Original Oratory, and the Recycle Wear Fashion Show.

She said the response from the public has been very overwhelming. The committee set the deadline for submission of entries and application for concessionaires, but the submission still keeps on pouring in at the DEQ office until yesterday afternoon.

Interested parties and individual who can forward their artworks and other entries today and before Friday would be considered for the festival but for exhibition purposes only, Castro said.

Sablan said the Battle of the Bands category has already gathered 15 hopeful bands while the Poetry Slam received 11 entries. She said the other categories would still have to finalize the number of the entries they have received as of this time.

Sablan said the committee for the festival formed months ago and committee members were selected based on their fields of expertise.

Angel S. Hocog handles the Battle of the Bands, Galvin Guerrero is in charge of the Film Festival, Farrah Younis and Glen Hunter handle the visual arts program, Melody Actouka leads the EcoDrama Performance and the Poetry Slam and Original Oratory, Lynn Tenorio leads the Cook-a-Rainbow Challenge, and Laila Y. Boyer would lead the Recycle Wear Fashion Show.

Sablan said they are also excited with the Recycle Wear Fashion Show because even the committee members are not given any information about the submitted entries. She said there would be six teams competing and 24 models have been signed up to walk the runway.

Sablan said the Recycle Wear Fashion show is the highlight of the festivities and would be held on the final night. The one-hour fashion show will display the latest trends in recyclable wear made by designers on the island. Three categories will compose the show-paper and cardboard, plastic, and aluminum. She said winners of the competition would bring home cash prizes plus a chance to flaunt their creations in one of Duty Free Galleria’s window displays.

Castro said the festival would give local artists the opportunity to showcase their creative talents in music, poetry, film, speech and drama, cooking, the visual arts, and fashion design.

Further questions on each category may be addressed to Angel S. Hocog, 322-9982; Galvin Guerrero, 233-6296; Farrah Younis and Glen Hunter, 483-2944; Melody Actouka, 235-1320 or 234-5498 ext. 1734; Lynn Tenorio, 664-4030; and, Laila Y. Boyer, 888-1609.

For information regarding all Eco-Arts Festival events, contact Fran Castro or Tina Sablan at 664-8500 or 664-8501 or email them at deq.nonpoint@saipan.com.