Pursuant to Presidential Proclamation No. 1262, March 21-27 every year is observed as United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization and International Theater Institute (UNESCO-ITI) World Theater Week in the Philippines. The week was first observed in 2007 as a prelude to the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Ministerial Meeting that year.

The Philippines has the honor of being the ASEAN Culture Capital for 2010 and 2011.

As the first country given this distinction in the 10-member association, the Philippines hosts this year’s Fourth ASEAN Ministers for Culture and Arts (AMCA) Meeting, the AMCA+3 Meeting, the Seventh Senior Officials for Culture and Arts (SOMCA) Meeting, and the SOMCA+3 Meeting at Clark Field, Pampanga.

As part of this year’s celebration, the annual creativity summit and workshop on Kalahi Cultural Caregiving was held March 9-15 focusing on the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The event sought to give appropriate orientation to artists, teachers, media leaders, cultural workers and scholars, social activists, and human rights advocates on the methodology of cultural caregiving for poverty alleviation through capacity confidence building in promoting creative industries and value-laden performances.

The theater is a powerful medium of communication, especially for refining taste, inspiring people to hope, and raising consciousness for timely issues. The theater medium has the ability to unify the many diverse cultures and peoples of the world and provides opportunities to educate and inform people.

This year’s observance of UNESCO-ITI World Theater Week in the Philippines seeks to encourage the bringing of culture to the masses in order that everyone, regardless of social stature, may have a contribution toward nurturing and preserving a legacy that makes us distinctly Filipinos.