Pronounced Tapokay, meaning “to gather” or “get together”, tapoCHI+  is a networking, learning venue that gathers artists, art enthusiasts, educators, innovators, MSMEs, students, and people in the arts and culture scene. 

In 2020, tapokCHI+ became  the highlight of the Tambayayong Dabawenyo Virtual Festival when the Creative Innovators Program Fellowship of the British Council, the CHED Institutional Development and Innovation Grant, and the NCCA jointly funded a series of events, webinars and workshops from October 2020 to May 2021. 

The tapokCHI+ project covered five major initiatives: (1) Launching of the Tambayayong Dabawenyo Virtual Festival 2020; (2) The Tambayayong Hub Network Hub Organizing Capacity Building and Training Program; (3) TAYO.TAYO (National Arts Month 2021) virtual celebration and launching of Yayong Davao website’s video documentary and motion editorial featurettes and the visual portfolio of the Tap.Tap People’s Fair Trade PPE Tool Kit Production and Livelihood Enterprise Training Program; (4) Tambayayong Hub Network Summits; and (5) Balag, Tukod ug Tambayayong, the opening virtual event of NCCA’s Balag at Tukod National Project.

The tapokCHI+ Online Learning Sessions and Workshops opportuned students, academics, designers, artisans and MSMEs in grounding their creative enterprise ideation and incubation through curated talks on local culture, heritage and identity. The first talk in October 2020 was focused on the foundations of art and design for communities of practice. It was followed by a 3-day spotlight discussion on Mindanao textiles weaving and webbing issues; fair trade and health compliant People’s Protective Mask initiative; and social media content creation through low budget film production.

The talks provided opportunities to rationalize the Tap.Tap Davao People’s Masks TOOL KIT which eventually expanded to Tap.Tap Davao People’s PPE Fair Trade Tool Kit and Livelihood Enterprise Support Program for community-based enterprises inclusive to unemployed women, out-of-school-youth, Persons With Different Abilities (PWDA), and LGBTQ. Highlights of the tool kit include:

1. Promoted the use of health-compliant and fair -trade manufactured washable and reusable masks in response to the economic and ecological concerns of affordability, accessibility, and the impact of irresponsible disposal of commercially available one-time use masks to the environment.
2. Collaborated illustrators, designers and artists in the region to design the visual identity of the Tap.Tap masks and cover suits in promoting the relevance of local culture, heritage and identity as mechanisms for proactive resiliency and responsive accountability amongst our creative communities.
3. Congregated learning resources from different organizations and agencies as references to create the tool kit such as World Fair Trade Organization Asia and DOST-Philippine Textile Research Institute.
4. Mobilized the member schools and their community extension partners through the Davao Colleges and Universities Network (DACUN) and the Association of Private and Public Schools, Colleges, and Universities in Region XI (APSCUR).

The talks also benefited the higher educational institution partners of the Tambayayong Hubs Network as they organize the hubs for their specific areas of interest on indigenous textiles, arts and crafts, gastronomy, farming and emerging homegrown technology, systems or processes.