Local artists, community leaders, and creative practitioners gathered at the Rurungan Compound on April 18, 2026, for “Design Kwentuhan Session 3: Ginhawa in Action,” a community dialogue focused on rethinking creativity through culture, healing, and local identity.
Organized by Creative Isla Movement and Weaving Ecosystems, the session brought together 26 participants for a circle-based discussion anchored on three themes: decentralization, sovereignty, and healing.
Organizers said the format was intentionally designed to remove hierarchy and encourage open exchange, shifting the conversation away from conventional design spaces and toward lived experience and cultural grounding.
Before discussions formally began, organizers noted an unexpected pattern from the registration process: 16 participants independently expressed similar concerns about cultural expression, with several stating fears that incorporating their own heritage into design might appear “forced” or performative.
Creative Isla Movement founder Sally Lebante described the shared sentiment as “costume anxiety,” or the hesitation to draw from cultural identity due to long-standing exposure to external standards of what is considered valuable or acceptable in design.
“It doesn’t come from ignorance. It comes from systems that repeatedly tell people to look elsewhere for value, until their own culture feels unfamiliar,” she said.
Participants said the open discussion helped surface shared experiences of creative doubt, shifting what had been personal uncertainty into a collective reflection on identity and practice.
Gia Querubin, founding executive director of Weaving Ecosystems, said the session challenged the notion that design is limited to technical or visual disciplines.
“All of us are designers in some way because we shape systems and lived experiences. It goes beyond graphic design—it is about how we design life itself,” she said
Onix Mendoza, founder of Astrolikha Creative Spaces, highlighted decentralization in creative work, emphasizing the importance of building opportunities outside urban centers like Manila.
“Creativity is not limited to the center. It grows where people choose to stay, build, and collaborate using what they already have,” he said.
Marie Tabangay, a Cuyo-based web designer and brand strategist, discussed design as a tool for healing and self-expression, noting that creative work becomes more meaningful when it is rooted in personal and cultural authenticity rather than external standards.
She also raised concerns about burnout in creative professions, stressing the importance of sustaining passion through self-driven work.
Representing indigenous creative practice, Beth Talac of Kabyagan Tayo shared how cultural craft can be sustained alongside market engagement without losing its identity, emphasizing a cycle of sourcing and returning materials to nature.
The session followed the Kwentuhan Model, a facilitation framework developed by Lebante that structures discussions in five stages, including reflection on beliefs, cultural grounding, and collective commitment-building.
By the end of the session, organizers said the circle format helped participants recognize shared struggles and reaffirmed the role of culture-based design in fostering creative confidence.
Lebante said the exercise reflected a broader desire among participants to be seen and heard in creative spaces.
“People are ready to step out of invisibility,” she said.
Supported by Rurungan Sa Tubod Foundation, Five300, Astrolikha, Palawan News, and CM Studio, the session concluded with a call to anchor creative practice in local identity, ease, and cultural rootedness.
