Attracting more than 27,000 people with approximately 75,000 audience viewership pre-pandemic, Pasinaya is undoubtedly the biggest multi-arts festival in the country.

After three years of cancellation and online editions, the CCP Pasinaya Open House Festival, the largest multi-arts festival in the country organized by the Cultural Center of the Philippines, returns this year from Feb. 3 to 5 in various venues inside the CCP Complex, located along Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City.

The festival highlights the different outdoor venues such as the CCP Front Lawn, Liwasang Kalikasan, Tanghalang Ignacio B. Gimenez and its surroundings, and parade ground of Vicente Sotto Street, among others.

“This year, Pasinaya follows the theme ‘Piglas Sining.’ We are breaking away from the notion that the CCP is just the building. We are emphasizing that CCP can be anywhere,” said CCP artistic director Dennis N. Marasigan.

Pasinaya continues its experience-all-you-can, pay-what-you-can scheme. For a suggested donation price of ₱50, participants may go in and out of the different CCP venues to attend the 30-minute workshops in various art disciplines conducted by leading artists, resource persons and teachers, or watch as many shows, screenings, and activities as they can.

Registration starts at 6:30 a.m., at the Bukaneg side of the Front Lawn and at Vicente Sotto Street.

On Feb. 3, there will be a Pagtitipon, an invitational gathering of the Kaisa sa Sining (KSS) regional partners. There are 59 regional partners from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao in the KSS network, with three new partners joining. A program of the Cultural Exchange Department, the KSS aims to further strengthen the CCP linkages and cooperations with local organizations in the different regions of the country.

Palihan and Palabas happen on Feb. 4 and 5, with the opening salvo kicking off at the CCP Front Lawn with a parade and special program. In Palihan, audiences can join the different workshops while they watching unlimited shows, featuring more than 3,000 artists from different art fields, in Palabas.

Festival programmers and art groups will meet in Palitan on Feb. 4 and 5, on-site at Tanghalang Ignacio Gimenez (CCP Black Box Theater) and online via Zoom.

The open house festival partners with various galleries, museums, and art spaces around the metro to put the spotlight on communal artistic spirit and collaborations. For this segment, the Paseo Museo, there will be hop-on, hop-off shuttle vans that will go around the participating arts spaces for free on Feb. 4 and 5.

Through the Pasinaya, the CCP aims to provide a platform for the artists and cultural groups to showcase their talents while nurturing the broadest public and creating new audiences through interactions and performances. Attracting more than 27,000 people with approximately 75,000 audience viewership pre-pandemic, Pasinaya is undoubtedly the biggest multi-arts festival in the country, and still getting bigger and better on its 18th year.