Celebrate ASEAN Month 2026: Public Invited to Experience Southeast Asia Through Music, Dance, Arts, and Culture

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), together with its ASEAN 2026 Philippines partners, invites the public to join the month-long celebration of ASEAN Month 2026, featuring a vibrant lineup of cultural showcases, performances, workshops, and community events that highlight the rich heritage and shared identity of Southeast Asia.

Following the successful momentum of the SULONG SEAPop Music and Culture Caravan, the celebration continues this August under the ASEAN Chairmanship theme, “Navigating Our Future, Together.” As ASEAN commemorates its 59th founding anniversary, Filipinos and visitors alike are encouraged to discover the traditions, creativity, and cultural diversity that unite the region’s eleven Member States.

As part of the celebration, participants who joined previous SULONG SEAPop Music and Culture Caravan events are encouraged to bring their SULONG SEAPop Passport to continue collecting stamps through the Stamp Rally at participating ASEAN Month activities. Those who complete the required stamps will have the chance to receive exclusive prizes, with winners to be announced during the culmination of the campaign in November 2026.

Throughout August, attendees can participate in a variety of free and accessible events across Manila, including:

August 6, 2026

ASEAN Corner at the Philippine High School for the Arts, featuring cultural exhibits alongside the Best of ASEAN Performing Arts (BOAPA).

August 7, 2026

Viet Nam Cultural Days in Manila at Centro de Turismo, Intramuros, with traditional water puppet performances, an interactive puppet workshop, ASEAN lectures, and cultural exhibits celebrating 50 years of Philippines–Viet Nam diplomatic relations.

August 8, 2026

59th ASEAN Day Anniversary and Viet Nam Cultural Days Public Cultural Showcase at Fort Santiago, featuring the Bayanihan National Dance Company and the Viet Nam National Puppetry Theatre in a free public performance.

August 9, 2026

The Inauguration of the ASEAN Cultural Center in Manila at the Metropolitan Theater, followed by the Best of ASEAN Performing Arts (BOAPA) showcase.

August 20, 2026

Interagency ASEAN Month Celebration, bringing together government agencies in a grand showcase of regional cooperation, culture, and shared heritage.

The celebration reflects ASEAN’s enduring vision of “One Vision, One Identity, One Community,” encouraging people of all ages to deepen their appreciation of Southeast Asia’s cultural connections while strengthening regional friendship and understanding. Whether through captivating performances, immersive workshops, educational talks, or cultural exhibitions, ASEAN Month 2026 offers meaningful experiences that celebrate the stories, traditions, and artistic excellence of the region.

Admission to events above is free. The public is encouraged to register in advance for workshops with limited slots and to follow the official ASEAN 2026 Philippines and NCCA channels for schedules, registration details, and event updates.

Philippines Welcomes ASEAN Young Artists for BOAPA 2026

Delegates to perform with Alice Reyes Dance Philippines on August 9

Sharing the vision of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in fostering a region that values peace, inclusivity, and mutual understanding, the Philippines will host the Best of ASEAN Performing Arts (BOAPA) 2026: Navigating Cultural Currents from August 5 to 9, 2026, in Manila and Los Baños, Laguna.

Organized by the Philippines’ ASEAN National Committee on Culture and Information - Sub Committee on Culture (COCI-SCC PH) through the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) in cooperation with the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), BOAPA has been one of ASEAN's flagship cultural initiatives, bringing together emerging and young artists from across Southeast Asia annually to celebrate the region’s shared heritage while highlighting the unique culture of each of the ASEAN member states.

True to the vision of “One Vision, One Identity, One Community,” BOAPA has become a platform where young artists forge lasting friendships, exchange creative practices, and deepen their understanding of various cultures that make ASEAN a vibrant and interconnected community through the years.

From August 5 to 7, young performers from the 11 ASEAN member-states will gather at the National Arts Center in Los Baños, Laguna where they will participate in cultural exchange sessions, artistic workshops, collaborative rehearsals, cultural immersion activities, and interactions with the students of the Philippine High School for the Arts (PHSA).

Their cultural journey culminates on August 9 at 6:00 PM with a performance at the historic Metropolitan Theater in Manila that will be open to the public. Delegates from each of the ASEAN member-states will showcase their unique cultural traditions, and then join the Alice Reyes Dance Philippines in performing excerpts from Rama, Hari, directed and choreographed by National Artist for Dance, Alice Reyes with music by National Artist for Music, Ryan Cayabyab and libretto by National Artist for Literature, Bienvenido Lumbera.

“The Ramayana is part of the common heritage among the countries of Southeast Asia. The participation of the delegates in a production of the Rama, Hari, as well as their country presentations will showcase ASEAN’s rich culture and evolving heritage while providing opportunities for interaction among the region’s young artists,” said CCP Vice President and Artistic Director, Dennis N. Marasigan.

The delegates will also be guests at the inauguration of the ASEAN Cultural Center in Manila earlier that day, also at the Metropolitan Theater.

As the Philippines continues with its ASEAN Chairship in 2026, hosting BOAPA reflects the country’s longstanding commitment to strengthening regional cooperation through culture.

In bringing together the region’s next generation of cultural bearers, BOAPA 2026 affirms that the peoples of the ASEAN remain connected by stories and artistic expressions that enable them to navigate the cultural currents of a shared cultural community.

Myth and folklore at the 7th Tingin Southeast Asian Film Festival at the Shang

Southeast Asian cinema exploring different folklores and myths get the spotlight at the 7th Tingin Southeast Asian Film Festival happening on August 17-18, 2024 at the Red Carpet Cinema in Shangri-La Plaza Mall.

With this year's theme of Enchantments for a Fragile World, a curated lineup of six full length films and four short films from the SEA region will be screened, for free, at the Red Carpet Cinema.

The film festival, the only one in the country showcasing movies from the Southeast Asian region, is part of the celebration for ASEAN month.

The full-length film selection for the 7th Tingin Southeast Asian Film Festival are as follows:

Dreaming & Dying (Singapore)

Director: Nelson Yeo

Three middle-aged friends are forced to confront their inner demons as a long-buried love triangle between them resurfaces.

Golden Dragon (Cambodia)

Director: Boren Chhith

In a coastal city, a hospital patient investigates the connections between his father's death and his dreams which overcome him.

In My Mother's Skin (Philippines)

Director: Kenneth Dagatan

A young girl desperate to cure her dying mother seeks out a mysterious fairy who gives her a magical insect. Unbeknownst to her, the fairy turns out to be deceitful and plans to devour them all.

The Long Walk (Laos)

Director: Mattie Do

An old scavenger living on the fringes of a near-future society exploits a ghostly companion's ability to traverse time, hoping to prevent his mother's suffering from a terminal illness.

Memoryland (Vietnam)

Director: Kim Quy Bui

A fatal workplace accident, a lonely young widow in a village filled with ghosts, and a couple planning for death; three stories of loss slowly intersect in this eloquent hybrid film.

Of Other Tomorrows Never Known (Indonesia)

Director: Natasha Tontey

Guided by the Minahasa’s influence, this speculative fiction of mystical belief interlaces care and ancestral dialogues, embracing a healing renewal across numinous, material and technological realms.

Once Upon a Time There was a Mom (Myanmar)

Director: Lin Htet Aung

Echoing the story of Vessantara Jātaka, the film depicts a man’s post-widowhood transformation and Myanmar's complex past through a dysfunctional family.

Part of Me (Brunei)

Director: Hazrul Aizan

Haz, an aspiring singer, is conflicted between chasing his dreams and following his family’s expectations. He struggles to see which is right for his path, and finds himself stuck between listening to his confidante, Atiyyah, who believes his happiness is the key to life or his brother, Halim, who believes guaranteed success is the key to life.

Snow in Midsummer (Malaysia)

Director: Chong Keat Aun

For 49 years, Ah Eng and Dou E were trapped in the "513" timeline. In 1969, post-election tensions gripped Kuala Lumpur when the Cantonese street opera "Snow in June" showcased Dou E, portrayed by the troupe master. Amid a riot, Ah Eng and her mother sought refuge with the troupe, losing contact with her brother and father. In 2018, Ah Eng returned to Kuala Lumpur and unexpectedly encountered "Dou E" at the cemetery.

Worship (Thailand)

Director: Uruphong Raksasad

Crisscrossing geographical and spiritual latitudes of Thailand, WORSHIP is a rapt sensory immersion into the ritualized power of faith and how it shapes the courses of people’s lives. From North to South and East to West, the documentary wraps us in the cloud of incense smoke as it explores Buddhist rites, animist rituals, shamanistic divinations, processions of flagellants, and guru monks’ vibrant and eccentric blessing ceremonies, and along the way investigates the fine line that separates devotion from superstition and transcendence from decadence. Farmers, villagers, monks, mediums, temple hustlers and devotees of all stripes make up this honest anthropological portrait of Thailand’s at its most faithful and hallucinatory.

Attendees for the opening night on August 17, 2024, 6:00 PM are encouraged to dress according to the theme with the best one winning a cash prize. Free movie snacks also await early birds in select screenings.

Scheduled after the screening of the closing film In My Mother's Skin is a talk-back session with the cast and crew led by director Kenneth Dagatan and producers Bianca Balbuena & Bradley Liew.

Here is the schedule for the festival.

August 17, 2024

12:00 PM Golden Dragon

12:50 PM Once Upon a Time There was a Mom

1:50 PM Worship

3:50 PM Snow in Midsummer

7:00 PM The Long Walk

August 18, 2024

12:00 PM Part of Me

1:10 PM Of Other Tomorrows Never Known

2:55 PM Memoryland

5:25 PM Dreaming & Dying

7:00 PM In My Mother's Skin

The 7th Tingin Southeast Asian Film Festival is presented by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and the Shangri-La Plaza's Red Carpet.

Pasinaya 2015 celebrates ASEAN integration, adds more museums

Pasinaya Grows Asean Wings this February 15, 2015 as the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ annual open house festival celebrates the integration of ASEAN countries. The Pasinaya, now on its 11^th year, is the biggest multi-arts festival in the country showcasing more than 3,000 artists and 300 shows in all CCP performance venues and other satellite venues.

Museo Marino

The whole day event opens at the CCP at 7:30 PM with a pre-show featuring the Marcelo H. Del Pilar Performing Arts Group, Marikina Dance Guild and the La Salle Dance Company-Street.  This will be followed by the official opening ceremonies and street parade featuring the Citizens’ Brigade Band of Dasmarinas, Cavite and the Sindaw Philippines Performing Arts Guild. After that, performances, workshops, film screenings, lecture-demonstrations, exhibits, and storytelling activities take place in multiple venues zoned and dedicated to the various art forms located inside and outside the CCP. The festival offers to the public on a unique “Pay what you can, See all you can” donation scheme the opportunity to enjoy a sneak preview of the CCP Performance season.   

Pasinaya goes beyond the CCP as it has expanded through its partner institutions such as Metropolitan Museum and Museo Pambata on Roxas Boulevard, National Museum on P. Burgos Drive, Rizal Park, NCCA, Casa Manila and Bahay Tsinoy in Intramuros, and 1335 Mabini Gallery in Ermita, Manila which will be opening their doors to the public on that day. Two of the newest additions to the festival are the Museo Marino and College of St. Benilde Museum of Contemporary Art and Design. Aside from the exhibits on view, the museums will also feature various performing groups.

Storytelling session

A sneak peek of what the Museo Marino has to offer was given to members of the media during the recent press conference of Pasinaya. The maritime museum and sports complex located in Malate, was established in 2012 by the Associate Marine Officers’ and Seamen’s Union of the Philippines (AMOSUP) and The All Japan Seamen’s Union (AJSU) and is one of the very few museums in the world dedicated to the work of a union. During the brief time we were at the museum, we were able to view a documentary about the illegal settlers of the island of Pulo, listen to a storytelling session, and have a guided tour of the exhibits. I felt that the guided tour went too quick for my taste but still enough me for me to consider going back one of these days to view the exhibits in a much more leisurely pace. Besides, admission to the museum is for free even after Pasinaya.

Lifeboat

This year, the Pasinaya coincides with the ASEAN Performing Arts Market hosted by Manila which is happening on February 13-15, 2015. The ASEAN Performing Arts Market offers opportunities for networking, showcasing of performance samplers and business matching of ASEAN performances within the ASEAN region and with the world. Contemporary, traditional, as well as innovative works by emerging and seasoned ASEAN artists in music, dance and theatre will be featured.

Pasinaya is presented by the Cultural Center of the Philippines and is headlined by the CCP’s own resident companies, namely Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, the UST Symphony Orchestra, Ballet Philippines, Philippine Ballet Theater, Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group, Bayanihan Philippine National Folk Dance Company, NAMCYA, Philippine Madrigal Singers and Tanghalang Pilipino.

Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group performs at Museo Marino

Here are links to the Pasinaya Schedule:

Festival Schedule

Museum Program

Admission prices:

P3000 Pasinaya VIP Box

P300 Fast Pass Ballers

P50 Suggested Minimum Donation

For inquiries:

832-3704, 832-3706, 832-1125 local 1405,1409