MANILA, Philippines — World Community Arts Day celebrated on February 17 each year highlights the universality of human experiences and gives artists a chance to speak their minds and to express their innermost thoughts.

Art – from music to theater to painting to poetry – allows us to closely examine our culture, our community, and ourselves. Art influences people by inspiring them to rekindle feelings like an old memory and moves them to reach out to an old friend or lover through a song, sculpture, or painting.

There is an artist in each of us. Even if we are not aware of it in our daily lives. We feel some connectedness with the arts when doing things like conversing with a close friend about poetry, decorating and arranging our living space, gesturing with our hands as we speak, lifting our voices together when we sing happy birthday to a friend or in worship, or just making sounds together with many voices.

Art has a very profound effect on people and can serve as an inspiration to awaken the imagination, talent, and skill hiding within each individual. It has shaped and inspired thousands of years of civilization, as made evident by the countless museums, galleries, theaters, and venues all over the world.

The arts have long been thought of as a cultural and economic feature of urban and suburban communities. Acting as invaluable communications tools, economic drivers, and vital cultural links, the arts can make the difference between a surviving and a thriving community. MABUHAY!