With hopes that the weather will improve this weekend, two organizations have scheduled events to celebrate the spirit of entrepreneurship and fair exchange. Both of these events will take place on Saturday.
The first event is Homegrown’s Filipino Fiesta. The site, which focuses on encouraging entrepreneurship and local enterprise, has just gotten a make-over. But as Rachel Davis, Homegrown’s culture curator, told Coconuts Manila, “the launch of the new website just happened to be on the same month as the fiesta.”
The event runs from 10 AM to 6 PM at the Arts in the City compound at Bonifacio Global City.
Davis said that this is Homegrown’s own way of celebrating National Language Month. They aim to celebrate and support Filipino entrepreneurship by providing a space for some entrepreneurs and brands to highlight their products and services.
“All the participants were given their spots for free,” Davis added, saying that in exchange, participants will supply raffle prizes and freebies for fiesta guests. “It is a not-for-profit event for Homegrown,” she added, so guests can expect plenty of fun things to see and do.
There will a creative hub where workshops will let people learn crafts, such as painting Takatak papiermache horses and sewing dolls. A tech hub will feature Filipino-made technological innovations that visitors can “play around” with.
Also, food booths will offer free food every hour in addition to selling their food items. “We will [also] have games and performances throughout the day,” Davis said.
Meanwhile, if you are interested in trading what you have for what someone can offer, Trade School Manila’s Fair Deal barter auction happens from 3 to 6 PM at the Commune coffee shop in Salcedo Village, Makati.
Trade School Manila is an educational not-for-profit that operates on a barter model: In exchange for learning something new, students bring something, usually, from a wish list the instructor brings. The afternoon auction operates on that principle.
Six participating persons and groups are willing to offer their services to the one who can offer the best “package” of goods or services. The idea, says Clarice Fong, PR officer for Trade School Manila, is “[to build] a culture of collaboration and cooperation.”
This, she says, is one of the core values of the organization. So apart from the hopefully exciting haggling that will go on all afternoon, there will be a “trading table” where people can put out what they need and what they can offer.
“We also want the event to be used as an opportunity for different types of exchange,” she says. “We’d like to see people talking in terms of barter rather than [money].”
Trade School Manila hopes to raise awareness of its upcoming season of classes offered on a barter basis.
Past classes included language courses, dance classes, and even a session on “how to make your first film,” where “Mayohan” director Dan Villegas and “Six Degrees of Separation From Lilia Cuntapay” filmmaker Antonette Jadaone shared the nuts and bolts of making an independent film.
The event aims to raise money for their operational fund.
—
For more details, visit the Homegrown Filipino Fiesta site and the Trade School Manila Facebook page.
