JUAN PABLO "JP" A. PAREDES
President, FCHSW

Coordinator, Pagdiriwang 2023

Welcome to the 37 th annual Pagdiriwang Philippine art and culture festival at the Seattle Center, June 3 and 4, 2023.

We’ve gone a long way since 1987. We established a robust institutional memory in organizing the largest Filipino art and culture festival in the Pacific Northwest. We held 3 years of virtual festivals in 2020, 2021 and 2022 due to the pandemic. Our mission was negatively impacted but we learned valuable lessons in the process. The challenges became opportunities for us to offer hybrid material this year, i.e. in-person events supplemented by streaming and online material. 

We are cautiously optimistic that the festival will be a success as it has been successful during the past decade despite difficulties. As a volunteer-run organization, the Filipino Cultural Heritage Society of Washington (FCHSW) is fortunate to have committed individuals and community groups who deliver a quality event annually. Special shout out to the Greater Washington Alpha Phi Omega for their steadfast support, and to the event leaders for the success of their respective segments. We are extremely grateful for their service! 

We have lined up new exhibits to complement our photography, culinary, arts, artifacts and historical exhibits. We also have bands performing at the Mural Amphitheater, Sunday, June 4.

We thank Seattle Center, the City of Seattle, 4Culture, ArtsFund, and Office of Arts and Culture for their support during these challenging times. We promise to deliver another series of excellent events that are free to the public.