Arts and Culture

Creativity as Formation

At Ateneo de Davao University, the arts are never treated as an extracurricular afterthought. Under the Office of Student Affairs, the Ateneo Culture and Arts Cluster (AdDU-CAC) coordinates the University’s performing groups, cultural organizations, and creative programming into one deliberate expression of Ignatian formation: art as a form of magis, a way of pursuing the greater good through beauty, discipline, and shared culture.

As one CAC program officer put it, the goal is never just showcasing talent. It is creating space for artistic expression, critical discourse, and community engagement, a transformative experience that embodies the Atenean spirit.

Pag-Inunong ay and the Festival of Excellence

Each year, this formation culminates in the University’s signature cultural event: Pag-Inunongay: The Ateneo Arts Fest and the Festival of Excellence.

First launched in the spirit of Presidential Proclamation No. 683, which declared February as National Arts Month, the festival has grown into a season that touches every part of student life: artistic, academic, spiritual, and communal.

Pag-Inunongay, held from January to February, is the formation season: immersive workshops where students explore new art forms and disciplines, often for the first time.

The Festival of Excellence is the culmination: a week of competitions, performances, and showcases that bring the season’s growth into the open. Recent editions have featured Agik-ik, a theatrical showcase of wit and humor; Lihok, a dynamic display of movement and dance; Mugna, a short filmmaking contest; Esporre, a photography exhibition; Diskurso, an intellectual discourse competition; and Sadsad, the festival’s spirited closing performance, culminating in the Festival of Excellence Awarding Ceremony.

The festival opens each year with Mass at the Our Lady of Assumption Chapel, a reminder that at the Ateneo, even celebration begins in faith.

Celebrating Mindanao’s Cultural Diversity

The festival’s recent theme, “ARTenean Harvest: Celebrating Ateneo’s Creative Magis and Mindanao’s Cultural Diversity,” names what has always been true of arts and culture here: this is not generic campus entertainment. It is a deliberate celebration of the island the University calls home, its many peoples, faiths, and traditions, expressed through the creativity of the students who carry them.

That same spirit runs through the University’s performing groups year-round, several of which are built specifically around bridging and promoting the cultures of Mindanao.

Whatever tradition you carry, whatever talent you are still discovering, there is a place for it here.