16 October 2023, Pasay, Metro Manila—In Awarding Ceremonies held at the Philippine Trade Training Center in Pasay City, Metro Manila, Cagayan de Oro City received a PHP3-million grant from the Creative Industries Development Program Management Unit of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) to implement a proposal the city submitted under the Lunsod Lunsad program of the DTI’s Malikhaing Pinoy initiative.

The initiative seeks to further develop the country’s creative industries by supporting and empowering creatives, and fostering enabling environments for them to shape the cultural, creative, and economic landscapes of cities through the pursuit of their art and profession and the infusion of innovation.

Cagayan de Oro is one of only a few Philippine cities handpicked to take part in the Creative AGE: Accelerating Growth in Enterprises for Social Development Goals (SDGs) project of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA). 

Over the course of its participation, technology empowerment emerged as one of the missing ingredients to maximizing the potential of the local creative community. This, along with the development of creative hubs, and facilitating access to financing, was addressed foremost in the city’s winning proposal, titled Golden Synergy: Co-creating Cagayan de Oro’s Creative Future in the Age of AI and the Metaverse.

The project, which involves training local creative and IT stakeholders in creative entrepreneurship, and engaging their collaboration on a vision for Cagayan de Oro’s development as a creative tech hub and creative industry enabler, is due to start November of this year.