Are you ready to savor a delectable European cultural experience, via online and onsite events, showcasing the best European poetry, visual arts, music, film, and architecture?

This year, Viva Europa 2022, highlights the partnership, friendship, and the shared cultural values between the EU and the Philippines.

The cultural festival started on May 9, coinciding with the commemoration of Europe Day. The date marks the anniversary of the historic “Schuman Declaration” that started the process of European integration.

In its present form, this integration is the European Union, “a union of 27 European countries founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law, and respect for human rights,” an EU statement said.

European Union Ambassador to the Philippines Luc Véron said “in the Philippines, Europe Day celebrations are an opportunity to signify the partnership and friendship between the European Union and the Philippines.”

Viva Europa 2021 is the result of the cooperation between the EU Delegation to the Philippines, the embassies of Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Spain, Instituto Cervantes de Manila, Ireland, France, Alliance Francaise de Manille, Italy through the Philippine-Italian Association, Hungary, Austria, Poland, the University of Santo Tomas, and Far Eastern University.

List of activities for Viva Europa 2022

Euro-Pinoy Visual Arts Exhibition: “Ebb and Flow: Return to Nature”

European and Filipino artists show their advocacy for “water” and marine resources preservation through paintings and sculpture. This exhibition is at the Yuchengco Museum, Makati City, from May 20 to 31, 2022. The exhibition coincides with the EU Green Week (May 30 – June 5) and the lead-up to the UN Ocean’s Conference (Lisbon, June 27 – July 1st 2022).

Curated by César Caballero, the exhibition is participated in by Louis Dumont (Belgium), René Reitier (Germany), César Caballero (Spain), Henri Eteve (France), Viviana Riccelli (Italy), Radha Makitalo (Finland), Jeanette Kamphuis (Sweden), Romania Diaz (Philippines and Italy), Fara Manuel Nolasco, Kizel Cotiw-an and Ramon Diaz (Philippines).

Bersong Euro-Pinoy

Get caught in the passion, the romance and fire of European and Filipino poetry on May 27, 2022 from 4 to 6 pm. Participating this year are Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Spain, Ireland, France, Italy, Austria, and Poland. Filipino poets from the University of Santo Tomas will read their own works.

This year, La Punta della Lingua poetry festival from Italy will again join the Bersong Euro-Pinoy poetry recital. Poems to be read adhere to the theme of “togetherness and hope.” Bersong Euro-Pinoy will be streamed live at the EU Delegation to the Philippines’ Facebook page.

Musica FEUropa Choral Festival

Musica FEUropa is the choral festival of the Far Eastern University, which will be held in the afternoons of May 14, 21, and 28, 2022. Watch the choirs perform famous music from folk to classical from both the EU and the Philippines during choral concerts.

Architectural heritage as expression of local communities’ identity (Italy)

On May 18, at 5 pm, the Philippine-Italian Association and Politecnico di Milano will hold a free-of-charge webinar on “architectural heritage as expression of local communities’ identity,” with Professor Nora Lombardini as speaker.

More information at https://philippineitalianassociation.org/events/2022/05/ 18/architectura-heritage

Pasolini’s centennial – screening of Accattone by Pier Paolo Pasolini (Italy)

On May 21, the UP Diliman-Film Institute, with the support of the Embassy of Italy in Manila and in partnership with the Philippine-Italian Association, will reopen its Cine Adarna. The reopening also marks the centennial of the great Pier Paolo Pasolini.

The program features the outdoor screening – free of charge – of “Accatone” (The Scrounger), the groundbreaking film entirely directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini.

The screening will be preceded by a “Poetic Conversation: Pasolini and Me. A Shared Moment in Film and Poetry” through which Professor Nick Deocampo, filmmaker and film historian, will discuss the influence of Pasolini in shaping the aesthetic of Deocampo’s own works.

Night of Ideas (France)

On May 26, 2022, the “Night of Ideas” will bring together cultural institutions and film professionals from France, Italy, Romania, and the Philippines to exchange ideas and talk about how the arts, cinema, and society survived the pandemic and continue to develop in the context of the new environment.

The panelists will converge at the Ayala Museum and the event will be livestreamed from 7 to 9 pm on Facebook Live.

Last year, at the height of the pandemic, the “Night of Ideas” in the Philippines looked into how the global crisis brought us together, and specifically how cycling became an alternative mode of transport for a population in quarantine and deprived of public transportation.

Flute Concert (Spain)

The Instituto de Cervantes of Manila held a flute concert on May 3 in the context of the exhibition “From the First Circumnavigation to the Manila Galleon: Music around the Iberian routes” at the National Museum. ##