Rizal High School in Pasig City, the country's largest secondary school with 14,000 population, immersed its students in the world of creativity by learning from accomplished artists and practitioners at the launch of the 2024 National Arts Month (NAM) celebration of the National Capital Region.

The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), in collaboration with the Lusong Luzon Arts and Culture Network, Arts Research and Training Institute in Southern Tagalog Inc. (Artist Inc.), Department of Education (DepEd) and the Pasig City government, launched the 2024 NAM on February 23. It will close on March 23 in Angono, the country's art capital, with several performances from local artists and personalities from the entertainment and creative industries.

Workshops on community theater organizing, gong and bamboo music, film-showing and reading, the walk and sketch on architecture and allied arts, ensemble dance and movement, experiencing new visual arts, and literary creation and performance were just a few activities students enjoyed during the event.

Attendees were treated to a star-studded lineup of performances from acclaimed artists and groups such as BGYO, Joey Ayala at ang Bagong Lumad, Leandro Ong, AGRWD, Sam Penaso with his performance art, John Verlin Santos and the Titik Poets, University of Makati Collective Arts of Students and Thespians (Umak CAST), UP Tugma, Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) Dulaang Suhay-Fil, Sindaw Philippines Performing Arts Guild, and the spoken word poets from PUP.

With the theme "Ani ng Sining, Bayang Malikhain," the 2024 NAM aims to convey that the rich artistry of the Filipino creative nation stems from collective human imagination rather than solely from individual creativity.

A creative nation, "Bayang Malikhain," Filipinos honor imagination, innovation and artistic expression as vital to national identity and development. Performances highlighted the Filipino artists' strength of creatively thinking out of the box and taking the innovative path others would not take toward nation-building.

Presidential Proclamation 683, s. 1991 declared February of every year as National Arts Month to celebrate artistic excellence and pay tribute to the uniqueness and diversity of the Filipino heritage and culture.