PAGDIRIWANG PHILIPPINE FESTIVAL 2025
Magsayawan Ketchikan
In the Southeast region of Alaska, the rural fishing town of Ketchikan, a Filipina women dressed in their colorful butterfly sleeve dresses captivate onlookers as they gracefully dance alongside partners wearing the formal “barong” tops. Traditional folk music echoes as others await their turn to perform, standing in awe and avidly watching their relatives and friends showcase the richness of culture representing their homeland. These images and memories were common during the 1980s-2000s, but since that time we have seen Ketchikan’s Filipino community cultural representation slowly diminish.
Although 10.3% of Ketchikan city identify as Filipino, there was a growing absence of Filipino cultural representation in Ketchikan and a need to revitalize a once vibrant and prominent local cultural group of performers. The closure of Ketchikan’s Filipino Community Center in 2017, accompanied with a declining interest by Filipino youth and the loss of aging Elder “folk experts”, created challenges that endangered the passing down of cultural dances and musical performances. There was a need for dedicated, cross-generational, fully trained dance and musical instructors to work with and teach Ketchikan Filipinos to cultivate this artistry and simultaneously reinvigorate the historical and cultural significance of the Ketchikan Filipino community.
Founded in 2022, the MAGSAYAWAN Ketchikan program was designed to meet the growing need of revitalizing and showcasing Filipino folk dance and music culture in Ketchikan. Although this is a newly created program, the history of Filipino cultural representation can be traced back to 1938, with Ketchikan having the first documented Filipino Community Center in the state of Alaska. It is evident that Filipinos play a significant role in Ketchikan’s cultural scene and the emergence of MAGSAYAWAN has been taking the lead to maintaining the Filipino imprint in the community and throughout Alaska. 30-40 individuals ages five to sixty years old participated in various performances and community events every year; from the Wearable Art Shows to the annual Fil-Am Festivals.
Alma Manabat Parker moved to Alaska in 1978, first to Kodiak and then transferred to Ketchikan in 1980. She started dancing at a young age during a time when Ketchikan’s Filipino cultural dance community was active and thriving. Alma dedication to ensuring current generations of Filipinos help reinvigorate and pass down cultural dance and music traditions within the community is the reason she created the MAGSAYAWAN Ketchikan program. From cultural enrichment classes within the school district to performing at local FIL AM Festivals and special celebrations, MAGSAYAWAN has strengthened the Filipino presence in the community’s art scene. Alma has written several grants since 2022 to ensure the sustainability of the program; those funders include the Alaska Community Foundation, Rasmuson Foundation, Alaska State Council on the Arts, and the Alaska Humanities Forum.