DAVAO CITY, Oct. 7 (PIA) - The Department of Tourism XI regional office headed by Regional Director Tanya Rabat Tan and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) represented by deputy executive director Marichu Tellano signed a memorandum of agreement today (Oct. 7) at the Seda Hotel Davao on the masterplan for a cultural hub in Davao Region.

The DOT-XI became a grantee of P10-million from the NCCA to develop a master plan for a regional cultural hub which is planned to be built at the government center in Mintal.

The funding from the NCCA will allow for the drafting of the master plan, containing cultural profiles and inventory, architectural and engineering designs, feasibility studies, and activities and programs that would sustain the establishment of a cultural hub.

This master plan will be a pre-requisite to succeeding funding requests for the actual construction of the infrastructure, as envisioned for the hub.

Marichu Tellano, NCCA deputy executive director, said the cultural hub could contain an indoor theater for 1000 people, a gallery or museum, studios for different arts, seminar rooms, resource center or library, and an innovation center.

"The facilities will depend on what are the needs of the local stakeholders," Tellano said adding that NCCA will not meddle on what type of facilities will be decided to be built on the cultural hub as according to the master plan.

The Region is home to eighteen (18) ethnographic groups, each with their own heritage and cultural traditions. The recognition given to their significance in both economic and social aspects is evident in the celebration of festivals and in active collaborations with their communities for agriculture, tourism, manufacturing and other related industries.

The DOT-XI has given particular interest in creating a hub that would allow the convergence and skills-sharing of traditional and modern arts, as well as the preservation of the region's heritage and culture. (PIA/RG Alama with reports from DOT-XI)