11 • 6 • 2020

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Streets of Diwata Incident

Our history as a people and as a diaspora is fraught with discrimination, displacement, and erasure by colonizers and white supremacists.

In these times full of divisiveness and fueled by hate towards “the other,” we, as a community, should hold strong to what our immigrant ancestors have sacrificed to build, to our heritage and culture, to the rights and freedoms that we have.

Our repeated and ongoing attempts at reclaiming that which was lost, which was stolen from us, and healing ourselves of our ancestral and ongoing trauma are met with hostility and viewed as an attack and act of rebellion by the very system and ideology that has marginalized us. A system and ideology that is falsely, out of fear, trying to protect itself from those it has disenfranchised and stolen from, including this land we live in.

This, sadly, has not gone away. This is something that is still happening to us up to this day. In fact, it just happened at the Streets of Diwata mural painting event on October 24, 2020 where an entitled white man in an electric wheelchair, for reasons that are only clear to him, considered it his right to disrupt the event by complaining about the murals that were being painted and tried to erase it by hosing it down with water. He also sprayed water on our production organizer and one of the muralists. Being hosed down and erased is a source of our trauma. Being hosed down and erased reeks of asserting supremacy, authoritarianism, and racism. It is an indelible part of American history, our history.

Show your support and solidarity. Come and view the Streets of Diwata murals at historic Bonifacio Street and Lapu Lapu Street in San Francisco. Amplify your voice and take a self guided tour then fill out a survey. 

These acts, no matter how small, are radical and significant. 

The fact that we exist in spite of it all is revolutionary.

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Lakbai Diwa Cultural Ceremony Highlights Video

Watch Lakbai Diwa Cultural Ceremony Highlights

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Diwata Prayer Cards
Art by Don Aguillo
Words by Aimee Amparo

See more Diwata Prayer Cards here.

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Thank You Lakbai Diwa Artists, Staff, and Community Members!

A big and heartfelt THANK YOU to the artists, staff, and community members for making Lakbai Diwa Cultural Ceremony - Diasporic Spirit Dance Ritual and Streets of Diwata happen!

Filipino American Development Foundation
Bernadette Borja Sy, Director 

Kenneth Rainin Foundation

Adriana Grino

Ted Rusell

Jamie De Wolf

Megan Bander

Yerba Buena Garden Festival

Lulu Linda Lucero, Director

Marcelo Aviles

Steve Cho

SOMA Pilipinas

Filipino Cultural Heritage District

Raquel Redondiez, Director

Office of Supervisor Matt Haney

Honey Mahogany, Legislative Aide

Abigail Rivamonte Mesa, Chief of Staff

Undiscovered SF, Sunday Streets

Desi Danganan

Gina Rosales

Yerba Buena Community Benefit District

Constance Cavallas, Director of Neighborhood Services and Projects

Kularts-SF

Alleluia Panis, Lakbai Diwa Director and Choreographer

Hana Lee, Project Manager

Wilfred Galila, Media Director

Jo Cruz, Production Organizer

Paloma Concordia, Papalodown Agency

Rachel Lastimosa, Composer

Joshua Icban, Musician

Conrad Benedicto, Musician

Carlito Camahalan Amalla, Carved Spirit Boat Designer

John, Doy, and Ronald Yumul, Kapampangan Master Carvers

Jason Serafino-Agar, Spirit Boat Builder

Poko Devis, Dance Artist

Jonathan Mercado, Dance Artist

June Arellano, Costume Designer and Dance Artist

jose e. abad, Dance Artist

Stephanie Herrera, Dance Artist

Isa Musni, Dance Artist

Johnny Huy Nguyen, Dance Artist

Giovanni Ortega, Dance Artist

Malia Byrne, Dance Artist

Claudine Del Rosario, Dance Artist

Earl Alfred Paus, Dance Artist

Cece Carpio, Muralist

Nikila Badua, Muralist and Lakbai Diwa Logo Designer

Dee Jae Pa'este, Muralist

Mel Vera Cruz, Muralist

Paolo Salazar, Muralist

Jenn Ban, Mural Assistant

Gaby Runnstrom, Mural Assistant

Mariella Montero, Mural Assistant

Don Aguillo, Prayer Card Illustrator

Raf Salazar, In Hiatus Studio

Noelle de la Paz, Prayer Card Writer

Aimee Amparo, Prayer Card Writer

Marcella Pabros-Clark, Kularts Board Member 

Kanyon Sayers-Roods,Native American Land Acknowledgement

Erina Alejo, Photographer

Peggy Peralta, Steadicam

Annie Li, Steadicam 1st AC

Nix Guirre, Steadicam 2nd AC

Volunteers

Gina Lee

Shelley Kuang

Jeffrey Lee

Zaiah Calvin-Luna

Teao Thompson

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Streets of Diwata
Bonifacio Street and Lapu Lapu Street,
San Francisco

Take a self guided tour through ephemeral street art of Mga Diwatas/Deities of Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, and Transcendence at Bonifacio Street and Lapu Lapu Street.

Diwata murals designed and painted by Cece Carpio, Nikila Badua, Deejae Pa’este, Paolo Salazar, and Mel Vera Cruz.

More information here.

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Lakbai Diwa Survey

Take our survey about your experience at Lakbai Diwa Diasporic Spirit. Your responses will be extremely helpful in guiding our thinking about future programs and understanding the impact of our work. Your answers are both confidential and anonymous. At the end of the survey you can enter a raffle for a $100 Visa gift card.

Take the Survey

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Make a $25 contribution and receive a set of five 2 x 3.5 inch Diwata Prayer Cards specially illustrated by Don Aguillo.

Parol Lantern Festival 2020 Video

Watch 18th Annual Parol Lantern Festival

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Make Your Own Parol Lantern

Materials for making your own parol lantern are now available for purchase while supplies last.

Buy Parol Lantern-Making Kit here.

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Virtual Parol Lantern-Making Workshop

Fridays, 05:30 PST
Nov 6, 2020
Nov 13, 2020
Nov 20, 2020
Nov 27, 2020
Dec 4, 2020
Dec 11, 2020
Dec 18, 2020

www.parollanternfestival.com

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COMING SOON!

Sayaw sa Ilaw / Dancing in the Light

As part of this year’s Parol Lantern Festival, we will be presenting Sayaw sa Ilaw / Dancing in the Light video, an international collaboration of folkloric dance groups in the diaspora.

Choreographed by Philippine Dance Master, Sydney Loyola, Sayaw sa Ilaw / Dancing in the Light will feature:

Bayanihan Philippine National Folk Dance Company-Alumni
from the Philippines, Australia, and Cyprus
Haraya Dance, San Francisco, CA
Kariktan Dance Company, Concord, CA
Palawan Dance Ensemble, Palawan, Philippines
Pasacat, San Diego, CA
PDT-Alumni, Greece
Sining Bulakenyo, Bulacan, Philippines
Dance Artists from San Francisco, CA

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Granny Cart Gangstas and Bindlestiff Studio presents
HOEVID-19: ONE NIGHT STAND