MANILA— Filipinos who are in the creative industry will soon have their own hub inside the walled city of Intramuros as the Philippine government moves to establish the country’s first “creative economy hub.”
“The creative economy hub, we will start it this year so as to further attract the youth to come to visit Intramuros,” Tourism chief Bernadette Romulo-Puyat said in a recent interview.
“In this hub, we will host artists, all those into the arts and creatives. We will build them quarters in Intramuros, all Filipinos,” she added.
Romulo-Puyat said the Maestranza Complex, which will serve as the first creative hub in the Philippines, would be akin to the TechnoHub in Quezon City except the target is the country’s creative sector.
“This will be a hub where they can stay, we will have a coffee shop, we’re thinking bed and breakfast also, like the TechnoHub. It will be all over the country, there will be a creative economy hub, the first will be in Manila,” she said.
The Maestranza Complex has chambers that used to be a storehouse and barracks for soldiers in the 1500s before these were destroyed during World War II.
The idea to turn it into a creatives quarters was initiated by the Intramuros Administration, an attached agency of the DOT, and the Creative Economy Council of the Philippines.
The creative economy spans several disciplines, which include music, performing arts including dance and theater, handicrafts, architecture, visual arts, graphic arts, cartoon animation, literature, fashion, furniture, and interior design, film, digital inventions including computer games, television production, publishing, and advertising.
Earlier, the National Economic and Development Authority said establishing more creative hubs in the country will not only boost the creative industries but also spur the country’s economic growth. – Joyce Ann L. Rocamora | PNA
