Makipag, a new Filipino art club on campus, began as a joke between seniors Joseph Guanlao and Aaron Verzosa last year in a Tagalog language class.

“[We] were joking around by coming up with different possibilities, and one of the possibilities was makipagnasti, which means ‘joining in an ongoing nastiness,’” said Allan Lumba, one of the group’s founders.

The group settled on Makipag, which Lumba described as a prefix for a verb that loosely means joining in on a social activity.

“I think this humorous origin reflects the character and intentions of the group at this point, which is more about fun, art and building social relationships than a professionalization of art or art as a mere tool for other supposedly ‘higher’ purposes,” Lumba said.

The group also drew inspiration from Lumba’s native San Francisco, where there’s a dynamic Filipino art community comprised of groups such as Locus Arts and Blindstiff.

Makipag’s Facebook page, Makipagnasti, has developed quite a large following. There are already 183 members.

One goal of the group is to render the community of Filipino Americans “visible, felt and heard within the larger context of society and the arts.”

Lumba met Guanlao for the second time at the All the Conspirators opening library event hosted by the Philippine American Dialogue & Discourse (PADD) project in February. He suggested holding an open mic event to gauge interest in the group.

“After that night, Joe got stuff really going, booking the Ethnic Cultural Theater, building a Web site, getting registered as a student organization, contacting artists and musicians,” Lumba said. “It’s actually quite amazing how it all came together.”

Makipag’s March 9 Open Stage & Art Show was a huge success, Lumba said.

“We reached capacity in an hour,” he said. “There were a lot of good and surprising performances and visual art on display.”

Verzosa also said that the pieces on display during the event were meant to showcase local Filipino artists by providing an open space to display their work.

“The open mic portion consisted of but was not limited to musicians, comics and writers,” he said.

The highlight of the event was not a particular artist or performer, but rather the highlight was that the event was able to happen and that it brought so many talented local artists together to share their art with the community, Verzosa said.

This community included people of all ages: children, young adults, students, non-students, parents and the elderly.

“Of course, most in attendance were Filipino or Filipino American, so in this sense our goals were fulfilled, to contribute and strengthen the network of Filipino artists and musicians in Seattle, not just at the UW,” Lumba said.

The group’s plans for the future are numerous, encompassing an expansion of its Web site as well as film screenings.

“We are planning a zine publication and another Open Stage event for May,” Lumba said. “We also plan on screening contemporary movies from Philippine writers [and] directors that are more independent and experimental than what people usually expect from the typical Philippine film industry.”

[Reach reporter Sara Grimes at arts@thedaily.washington.edu.]