THE City Government of Bacolod is planning to host the 7th International Mask Arts and Culture Organization (Imaco) International Conference in November 2019.
Councilor Em Ang, chairperson of committee on tourism, said Wednesday, November 8, that since Bacolod is usually busy with MassKara Festival during October, they suggested to hold the conference the following month.
“We are very fortunate that Mayor Evelio Leonardia and I had earlier witnessed the big event in Vientiane, Lao People's Democratic Republic,” she said.
Last week, Leonardia signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the hosting privilege, with Imaco president Kweon Young-Sae, who is also the mayor of Andong City, Korea.
The signing of the MOU was held during the 6th Imaco International Conference in Vientiane where Leonardia also received the organization's banner on behalf of Bacolod as the next host of the biennial conference.
Ang said the 6th Imaco conference was attended by delegates from Morroco, Belgium, Europe, South and North America.
“It was really something new to us because we did not know that there were so many countries that still uphold their masks culture and tradition,” she said.
Ang added they found out that Bacolod’s MassKara is the youngest and newest in Imaco which is already 38 years.
“In other countries, they had their mask tradition, art and culture for centuries,” he added.
Ang said that Bacolod was chosen to host the 7th Imaco International Conference because Bacolod has a sister city relation with Andong, where Imaco is based, and most of the members of Imaco’s Board of Trustees are from Andong.
Last year, Bacolod also participated in the Andong Maskdance Festival from September 29 to October 8 and the Koreans were impressed with the MassKara dancers’ performance.
Andong is a sister city of Bacolod, based on the agreement signed on September 2008.
Ang said the MassKara masks are among the more than 500 from across the world displayed at the World Mask Exhibition at the Landmark Mekong Riverside Hotel in Vientiane.
Hosting the conference could be a big opportunity for Bacolod to bring it to new level and to improve its mask-making.
Imaco has 69 member-countries and Bacolod is expecting not less than 300 delegates from different countries in 2019, the councilor added.
