Just Millennial Things
Photo by Eloise Yuson Diaz
Anyone who was born on the 1980s up to the mid-2000s is probably reading this article—or any other article, or browsing for the next big thing on an app, or using the hottest Snapchat filter—on a mobile phone right now. But more than being tech-savvy, digital natives, millennials are socially-conscious, compassionate and diverse group of individuals who have a knack for diversity past beyond numbers. If confidence is key, millennials surely have a way of unlocking each door.
With much appreciation for raw and unique talent, this generation has brought up events that support and promote talent and art to the local scene. This is what Millennial Matters 2017 was all about: a night of culture and art, all for the Cebuanos.
The first Millennial Matters was held last May 19, 2017 at the Casa Gorordo from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. It is a non-profit and free event organized by Pioneer Powerhouse. The group partnered with DYRF, Magic 92.3, and Binisaya Films and nine more partner establishments.
Pioneer Powerhouse is a group of AB Corporate Communications (AB Corp. Comm.) students from the University of San Carlos. Kiara Civil, the group’s head, says it chose the said name because they are USC’s pioneer batch for the said program. AB Corp. Comm. is the newest college program of the Department of Communications, Languages and Literature.
Millennial Matters is the right event for art-loving, cinephile and poetic Cebuano millennials, as organizer Yzabella Sumile said, “Millennial Matters is a night of all forms of art. It is a night of appreciation and celebration of the works of talent and skill. It is a showcase of talent. It features paintings, spoken poetry, films, and many more.” One of the aims of Millennial Matters is to offer alternatives to the usual, party-filled, Cebuano Friday nights: why not go to an event that praises art, talent and skill? After all, its theme is: “Recollect the past. Revel the present. Reshape millennial identity.”
From its roots, Millennial Matters was just the usual requirement for the group’s Events Management Class; but what turned out to be just a class requirement became a huge success. An estimated 100 people attended the event, compared to the expected 50 attendees.
“The venue is also of significance to the event because Millennial Matters is all about maintaining the Cebuano identity while evolving into something new. It is the creative fusion of the old with the new and that is why Millennial Matters is rightly situated in one of Cebu’s national historical landmarks,” says organizer Gabriel Tomboc. Casa Gorordo, Spanish for “Gorordos’ Home,” was a house built in 1850 and was bought in 1863 by Juan Isidro Gorordo. Today, it reminds visitors of the culture of the past and moving forward to the ever-evolving culture of the future.
The event kicked off with Blogger Millenia, a talk by bloggers Jaemar Abangan (commonly known as Jaememes) and Jean Louise Mainit. The talk was all about how social media has continuously and directly shaped the Cebuano culture. “We recognize the influence of social media as part of the millennial identity,” says Gabriel Tomboc.
Pagawas sa Gibati then followed which featured four spoken word poetries by known Cebuano spoken word artists Matthew Delagdo, Gabriela Butalid, Katrina Blanco, and Juanita Romualdez.
The event also featured five musicians with their respective songs and pieces. “My songs are all about the joys and pains of love, courtship, and dealing with heartaches. I think that these are some of the sentiments that are common to most of the millennials” says Alexandra Alix, one of the featured musicians.
Cebu Reel Feels followed which showcased four films. The first two films, Aftershock, directed by Remton Zuasola and Operation Prutas, directed by Ara Chawdhury, told stories about the Sinulog festival. Another movie, Night Changes, directed by Keith Ayuman tells about how interconnected a college university is. It was a story about destiny among two different couples. Mariyah Lim’s film Leonora Kilat was featured last. The event concluded with a closing performance by Jeff Go.
When asked if they would do this again in the future, Civil has this to say: “Now that we’ve experienced organizing an event plus lessons from this subject, we are more than willing to organize more [similar] events in the future. My team and I were actually discussing to ourselves to do this annually.”
