Kultivation Festival a preview to Filipino District

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This article was published 09/03/2020 (2317 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg’s Filipino community is hoping to establish a Filipino District somewhere in Winnipeg.

To preview what a district — similar to a Little Italy or a Chinatown — would look like, they are launching Kultivation Festival, a two-day event which will run for the first time in June to showcase various aspects of Filipino culture.

One of the individuals behind the idea is Elizabeth Cron, co-chair of Kultivation and the marketing director at the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce.

“In October I was brought together with a group of mostly young, second-generation Filipino entrepreneurs around this idea of establishing a Filipino District here in Winnipeg,” Cron said.

“If we were going to have this district, the festival in June would kind of be the city’s sneak preview to what a Filipino District could look like, hoping that we attract investors, we attract politicians to come, and kind of really invest in this idea.”

Manitoba is home to more than 83,000 Filipinos; over 76,000 reside in Winnipeg. The first wave of formal migration took place between the 1950s and ’60s, when there was a need for healthcare professionals. Between the 1960s and ’70s, when Manitoba’s textile industry was growing, seamstresses made their way to the province. This subsequently triggered a chain of migration.

“They left everything they had to come to Winnipeg for opportunities and for growth and to make sacrifices for their future family. At the same time Winnipeg really chose our parents. They were looking for workers, they needed multiple people to come here to help Winnipeg grow, so we really want this district to be a gift back to the land, to the city that welcomed our parents those 60 years ago,” Cron said.

Karla Atanacio is a member of Aksyon Ng Ating Kabataan (ANAK), a Filipino-Canadian non-profit which operates various programs. Many of ANAK’s members are involved with Kultivation as well.

“To the community at large we’re Filipino but we’re also Canadians, and we’re here to tell our own story,” Atanacio said. “(The district) would be a place for more collaboration.”

When imagining what a Filipino District could look like, Cron compared it to The Common area at The Forks, with pop-up stores and start-up businesses.

“So it’s kind of like the incubator hub of Filipino businesses and really just kind of a gathering place for multiple generations to just explore the culture. And it’s also a place for all of Winnipeg to learn about the Filipino culture and be inspired by it,” she said.

The group behind the Filipino District was inspired by San Francisco, where its Filipino festival, called Undiscovered, mobilized enough interest that a Filipino District was established after two years. Cron said she suspects it will take longer in Winnipeg, suggesting the project could take five to 10 years.

An official launch for the Kultivation Festival began March 6 and will run until March 21 at the Garden City Shopping Centre. Kultivation and CBC Manitoba will co-host a temporary bureau to garner ideas of how a Filipino District could take shape in Winnipeg.

The pop-up bureau will also include a Filipino makers market, food, a youth DJ workshop, and a film festival.

The festival itself will take place on June 20 and 21 in the Exchange District.

“A big part of this festival, too, is it’s not just for sprinkles and sparkle. In the fashion shows we’re doing, and the music that we’re performing, and the film festivals that we’re doing — we have all completely invested in the idea that all of it has to be educational; it has to tell the story of our heritage, it has to tell the story of people coming here to Winnipeg, and it has to have meaning,” Cron said.