Many people know by now the importance of teaching kids how to appreciate art. Letting young children experience art fosters creativity; according to writers Felicity McArdle, Gail Boldt of “Young Children, Pedagogy and the Arts,” the arts are also “their own forms of making meaning that allow children unique opportunities for experiencing potential and engaging in interpersonal relations.”
What’s entirely more obscure is the importance of architecture appreciation for kids. That’s exactly what architect and curator Edson G. Cabalfin touched on last year when he released the illustrated children’s book “What Kids Should Know About Filipino Architecture.” The book, aside from teaching children how to appreciate architecture in general, also zeroes in how learning about your country’s buildings and structures also gives you a better understanding of your own culture and history.
This Oct. 12, the Metropolitan Museum of Manila is hosting a one-day kids workshop called “Tara, Arkitektura! 2 at the MET.” The day’s activities will be taken from Cabalfin’s book, and children will learn how to create miniature papercraft versions of Manila’s iconic landmarks. It’s open to children ages 8 to 12 years old, and the participation fee is P250 per kid with one guardian, inclusive of museum admission and materials.
After the workshop, the participants can also drop by to visit “Interrogating the Two Navels: Colonialism and Neoliberalism in Filipino Architecture,” Cabalfin’s lecture along with Dr. Gerard Lico at 2 p.m. Cabalfin, ICYDK, is the curator of the exhibit “The City Who Had Two Navels,” which was presented at the Venice Biennale. Taking after the Nick Joaquin book it’s named after, the exhibit analyzes the two “navels” of Filipino architecture: our colonialist past that “impacts the formation of the built environment” and “neo-liberalism’s [effect on] the urban landscape.”
Check out this form to RSVP for the workshop, and this one for the lecture.
Featured photo courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Manila
Get more stories like this by subscribing to our weekly newsletter here.
Read more:
Watch Carl Th. Dreyer’s masterpiece and a psychological thriller at the 5th Danish Film Festival
Artist and activist Carlos Celdran fought the good fight until the end
Experience a multisensory Vincent van Gogh exhibit from Oct. 26 to Dec. 8