{"id":367490,"date":"2022-05-02T06:05:58","date_gmt":"2022-05-01T20:05:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=367490"},"modified":"2022-05-02T06:05:58","modified_gmt":"2022-05-01T20:05:58","slug":"flame-tree-arts-festival-returns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/flame-tree-arts-festival-returns\/","title":{"rendered":"Flame Tree Arts Festival returns"},"content":{"rendered":"
Tyler Warwick is seen carving a \u201cfishing club\u201d last Sunday during the last day of the 41st Flame Tree Arts Festival at the Sugar King Park and NMI Museum grounds.\u00a0(Leigh Gases)
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The 41st Flame Tree Arts Festival\u2019s opening ceremony last Friday was also an emotional one, not only because it saw the festival\u2019s resumption after two years of being dormant due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it was also an occasion when many of the CNMI\u2019s artists who have passed away in those two years were remembered.<\/p>\n

The fallen artists\u2014Jose Tilipao Limes, David Anthony S. Hosono, Lana Lynn Fitial, Felix Fitial, Raymond N. Fitial, and Fautisto G. Tebuteb\u2014and their families were recognized at the opening ceremony, with promises to keep their memories and legacies alive.<\/p>\n

This three-day festival\u2014held Friday to Sunday\u2014was notable for being held for the first time at the Sugar King Park and the adjoining CNMI Museum grounds in Garapan\u2014a departure from previous year\u2019s festivals that were either held at the Civic Center in Susupe or the American Memorial Park. The new location meant that a section of Middle Road had to be closed to traffic. That was possibly what caused the opening ceremony to be delayed by more than 30 minutes due to the traffic jam in the area caused by those who did not know about the road\u2019s closure.<\/p>\n

The event saw more than a thousand people from Saipan, Tinian, and Rota gather together in celebration of the arts, live performances, and food. There was also a sizeable delegation from Rota.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy it\u2019s back because I get to enjoy the weekend with my family and friends and just enjoy the food and entertainment. It\u2019s nice we get to do stuff like this again after more than two years of nothing because of COVID,\u201d said one person interviewed at the festival.<\/p>\n

Department of Community and Cultural Affairs Secretary Joseph P. Deleon Guerrero said the festival\u2019s theme\u2014\u201cHealing Through Arts\u201d\u2014was also fitting, given what the CNMI community has gone through these past two years with the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur islands were at a standstill, as we stayed home, refrained from social gatherings and did our best to comply with COVID guidelines to keep our community safe. But despite all that we have endured, we stayed Marianas strong and resilient as ever. And our theme, \u2018Healing Through Arts,\u2019 is part of the islands\u2019 healing process,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Deleon Guerrero said that, by just coming together as a community once again, to celebrate and enjoy the arts, the food, and each other\u2019s company is healing for the body, mind and soul. \u201cWe are back and we will continue our tradition of celebrating our annual festival in honor of our artists and our community,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Gov. Ralph DLG Torres thanked the Flame Tree Festival committee and Parker Yobei, executive director of the Commonwealth Council for Arts and Culture, along with Jerry Tan of the Tan Siu Lin Foundation for assisting with the holding of the festival.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Danny Aquino, executive director of the NMI Museum said, \u201cWe always welcome outdoor activities at the NMI Museum of History and Culture because events increases our traffic and builds our capacity. I would like to thank Arts Council director Parker Yobei for letting the NMI Museum be a part of the event. Also thank you to the secretary of DCCA for continuing to support the museum and to Gov. Torres for recommending the closure of the road for the Flame Tree Arts Festival. This would ensure the safety of the public navigating between Sugar King Park and the NMI Museum.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 41st Flame Tree Arts Festival\u2019s opening ceremony last Friday was also an emotional one,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":367493,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-367490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}