The Podium Boutique Hotel became relevant to me when I saw a trending post about the view from its rooms, and then on, kept the hotel at the back of my mind. Now came the Ibagiw Festival 2025, I was delighted that it was part of the creative crawl. Finally, I would be able to see the hotel.
ABOUT THE PODIUM BOUTIQUE HOTEL
The Podium Boutique Hotel opened last 2017, according to owner Ms. Melan Marquez and is named as such, relating to their athletic lifestyle towards podium finishes. Among the Ibagiw Festival participating establishments, this one deeply resonated.
THRUSTS FOR MENTAL HEALTH
My takeaway on our visit to The Podium Boutique Hotel is how they dealt with Mental Health. That is where the passion project “Art Heals” made it in the Ibagiw Festival Crawl. The concept came from Ms. Melan Marquez, a part of the Baguio City Mental Health Council, who has long treated the hotel building as a safe space for people to slow down with art.
Going beyond art expressions, Ms Melan is very vocal in erasing the stigma about Mental Health. Recently, she held talks at PRC and DAR with strong messaging that it is ok for someone to seek help and to know someone who needs help by creating a secure and safe environment.
ABOUT ART HEALS
Art Heals is a non-profit group that brings together creatives, psychologists, neurologists, neuroscientists, and mental health advocates to explore how art supports wellness. The group uses visual, performing, literary, digital, and applied arts to promote self-discovery and emotional recovery, drawing on research that links creativity with mindful practice. Its workshops, discussions, and community outreach programs are designed to widen access to these tools and help people build healthier ways to process their inner lives. The organization also invites mentors who can share their craft and strengthen its mission by teaching techniques that shape confidence, clarity, and personal growth through art.
THE PROJECT THAT TRANSCENDS DEEP
Beyond these exhibitions and safe spaces, Art Heals extends into the community. Workshops for children and emerging artists offer hands-on opportunities to create, connect, and learn, while residency programs provide space for young creatives to grow. Through these initiatives, the hotel becomes a hub where creativity nurtures both mind and spirit. During Ibagiw, Hōka Brew is a vivid reminder that art can do more than decorate a space, it can heal, inspire, and bring a city’s people closer together, turning each visit into a quiet, transformative experience.
Art Heals sits at the intersection of expression and recovery. The program builds space for people who struggle with speech, attention, or emotional regulation, giving them tools that help them communicate on their own terms. Ms. Irish Yvonne works with autistic children in Baguio and Metro Manila under Autism Hearts Foundation, using drawing and painting as extensions of language. Many of the kids she teaches struggle to speak, yet their hands reveal stories and ideas they cannot voice. What began in 2018 has grown into a steady push for inclusion. By 2026, three young artists will join a UN visit tied to advocacy efforts linked with Art Heals, showing how creative work can shift opportunities. The practice allows them to express who they are without pressure, opening paths that talk alone cannot offer.
Wreigh Jann Tamayo widens that reach further. He looks at each student and sees possibility instead of limits. Through painting sessions, he guides them to sort emotion through color and gesture, helping them release tension they hold inside. His work also extends to movement. He teaches dance and plans to build a more structured program that uses rhythm and choreography to support emotional grounding. His own team has represented the Philippines at the United Dance Organization, where they earned a silver medal. His experience proves that healing does not sit only in visual art.
According to Ms. Melan, Theatre, dance, and other performance forms carry the same capacity to lift confidence and rebuild connection and are included with the pipeline. Art Heals brings these threads together, showing how creative practice can open strength in people who need safe ways to speak and be seen.
SUCCESS STORIES OF ART HEALS
Since of the project’s running time, I asked Ms. Melan about success stories. She mentioned particulary her fellow young athletic friend who was diagnosed with a heart condition leading to a open heart surgery. To make the story short, it is a 180-degree change of lifestyle. In the dullness of his recovery, art became the outlet. Ms. Melan eventually invited him to be one of the 5 artists joining the Art Heals exhibit and had one of his artworks sold, even as a first time exhibitor. The proceeds help augment his medications. Thus, this project indeed impact this life, and I discern, many more lives not mentioned.
According to Susan Magsamen (A quote posted at Art Heals Instagram Account), “Art can be a catalyst for changing neurophysiology. You don’t have to be good at it to get greate benefits, but change and growth require taking risks. By creating communal sense of awe and wonder, music can help people feel safe takig part in creative expression or collective action. If you’re going to transcend, you have to try something different.”
ABOUT THE FEATURED IBAGIW ARTISTS
Dulthe Carlo Munar is not just an artist but also he’s an architect and educator, based in Baguio. He often works with wood and found materials, giving discarded objects a second life in sculptural form. For Ibagiw, his pieces reminded diners how creativity can arise from reuse, memory, and humility.
Sirk Deuda, meanwhile, is a visual artist and tattoo designer whose conceptual works push boundaries. He studied product design, but his art roams freely across medium, from painting to mixed media, often addressing personal, political, or social themes with raw and direct force. His tattoos and installations challenge the viewer, while still respecting space and form.
I also saw artworks of Edmund Andrada, which will be on display until November 30, 2025. See his art exhibit titled Eclectic.
IBAGIW MENU AT HOKA BREW
Hoka Brew’s Kinupao feels built for the Ibagiw season. It takes the comforting smoke of kinuday and folds it into a soft Chinese bao, giving you a mix that feels familiar yet new. The five-spice sauce adds warmth, while the pickled vegetables cut through the richness with a clean snap. The idea works because it mirrors Baguio’s mix of influences. It’s a small bite with a clear sense of place. The ginger lemonade served with it leans sharp and acidic, which might suit some palates, but it tipped too tart for mine.
The Mongolian-style buffet brings a different kind of pleasure. You get a full line of vegetables, meats, and sauces ready to shape into whatever bowl you’re craving. The guide helps if you want direction, but you can also trust your own instinct. I went by feel and adjusted the ratios to get a richer, deeper base. The vegetables stay al dente to bite, the meats cooked adequately, and the sauces carry enough variety to let you go light, bold, or something in between. It’s simple, flexible, and satisfying which is an easy fit for diners who like building flavors their way.
KASIYANA ART EXHIBIT
Kasinaya is a Kankanaey word translated to “All Will Be Well”, which is a timely message of hope and inclusivity, the Art Exhibit will run from November 14-December 15, 2025 at the Baguio Convention Center, specifically at the Gallery 2600 (Left Side as you enter the Convention Center Lobby). It curates masterpieces from 20+ artists from different ages and backgrounds. You can visit the exhibit and support the artists by purchasing their crafts. Many of the Art Heals children joined the exhibit.
THE CARANTES COMMUNITY ART EXPERIENCE
From the idea of a community art through a limited 10 x 10 canvass, but a community effort requires a larger 24 x 28 canvas panel. Strategically placed at Carantes Street, passersby, artists or not, get to partake in this community art project. Artists-on-duty lead the passersby on how they can apply strokes until such it is completed. This activity gives mileage that Baguio City is Creative City of Art. This is how Art Heals wants to transcend deeper with the Baguio citizenry.
HOW CAN YOU HELP ART HEALS?
If you are a business owner or private stakeholder, you can help out through information dissemination to augment. You can also sponsor art materials that the children can use during art healing sessions in a non-clinical setting.
Order the Mindful Lines, Mindful Lives Book, scan the QR code at the photo to enjoy the Pre-Order Price until November 30, 2025.
If you are a private citizen, read and learn about Mental Health. Find learning materials online even for personal intentions only. One way or another, once you learn how to deal with your own mental health, you can as well with orders.
Together, one small step forward each day for Mental Health can soon bring us to a better understanding as a society.
CREATIVE RESET
During this particular segment of the Creative Crawl, The Podium Boutique Hotel served as a reset point for me. In particular, the quick interview with Ms. Melan transcends through my soul. I, myself, am battling with Major Clinical Depression and an encounter with such movement seems like an embrace to my healing soul. The Mental Health theme, the pieces at the walls on each floor, and the overall rhythm offered a quiet break in a full day of moving between venues. It stood out by keeping things simple and genuine. What a way to cap our day full of synergy and inspiration.
One small step for Mental Health each day moves us closer to a kinder, more understanding community
CONTACT ART HEALS
- Address: Km 4, Bakakeng Central, Marcos Highway, Baguio City
- Mobile Number: +63 917 866 6700
- Email: arthealsincorporated@gmail.com
- Instagram Account: https://www.instagram.com/artheals_inc
- Google Map Link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/5nFT8wfSw4w22nzk9
MY CONCLUSION
Ibagiw Festival speaks of impactful creativity, but it also advocates for the challenged. Art with a Heart
