March 29, 2024

The House Committee on Basic Education and Culture has approved a bill that seeks to create a special high school for the arts for talented students in Baguio City.
Baguio City Rep. Mark Go re-filed HB 974 entitled “Establishing the Baguio City High School for the Arts” that seeks to nurture young artists’ creative talents and support the city’s long-standing heritage of folk art and crafts. This bill was passed by the House of Representatives in the 18th Congress.
The bill would support the city’s commitment to upholding its creative and cultural traditions and providing sustainable livelihood to its local artisans.
Baguio City is the first Philippine city to be inducted into the Unesco Creative Ci-ties Network in 2017, which recognizes ci-ties with rich cultural heritage and recognizes creativity as a major factor in their urban development.
Once signed into law, the school will be administered and supervised by the Department of Education, in coordination with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), which will provide policy direction and technical assistance to the school through the DepEd-Cordillera and Baguio Schools Division Office.
Go said the approval of HB 974 will be a significant milestone for Baguio, a city known for its strong cultural traditions and highly valuing its creative industries.
He added the school would provide an avenue for the talented youth of Baguio and the greater Northern Luzon area to hone their skills and foster artistic expression.
Go said a formal academic institution focused on the arts would help ensure long-term sustainability in the creative sector, in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. – Press release