May is a special month at the Museum of Naive Art [MoNA]. We opened our doors to the public in May 2013. That same year we also initiated the Kabilin Fest.  In partnership with various creative practitioners in the community, MoNA endeavoured to give the Cebuano public the opportunity to experience a myriad of interactive cultural heritage workshops under one roof. For those of you who joined MoNA’s Kabilin Fest 1 (2013) & Kabilin Fest 2 (2014), thank you so much for sharing your time and talent with us to celebrate our heritage.

In the years of 2016, 2017 and 2018 MoNA  joined the greater community of museums and heritage sites in Cebu in the celebration of  Gabii Sa Kabilin.

A Little About Gabii sa Kabilin (GSK) or Heritage Night
Info from the RAFI website

The Gabii sa Kabilin or Night of Heritage is held every last Friday of May in time for the Philippine National Heritage Month and International Museum Day.

Inspired by the Long Night of Museums in Germany and other European countries, the Gabii sa Kabilin aims, among others, to:
•Encourage the public to visit museums
•Preserve Cebu’s rich culture and heritage
•Develop an understanding that museums can also be venues for live cultural activities
•Correct the common misconception that museums are mere repositories of “dead” objects

When the Gabii sa Kabilin started in 2007 there were only four participating Cebu City museums:
•Casa Gorordo Museum
•Cathedral Museum of Cebu
•Basilica del Sto. Niño Museum
•Fort San Pedro

In 2014, that number grew to 35. As of 2016 there were 41 participating museums and heritage sites in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Lapu-Lapu and Talisay.