(Programme held October 2025)
Leading Beyond Limits is a creative leadership workshop developed by Katha Pilipinas in partnership with the Metrobank Art and Design Excellence (MADE) Program, as part of MADE’s 41st edition celebration. Designed for Filipino creatives, community builders, and organisers, the program equips participants with the confidence, language, and practical tools needed to grow from individual practice into influential leadership.
Building on the success of PAGSIBOL: Grow and Thrive as an Artist-Entrepreneur, Katha Pilipinas’ first formal upskilling programme, Leading Beyond Limits marks the partnership’s second major learning initiative—deepening its work in arts management, leadership development, and community-centred practice.
From Creative Practice to Creative Leadership
Many creatives lead long before they ever carry the title. They organise communities, hold space, advocate for causes, and shape culture through their work. Leading Beyond Limits was designed to meet creatives exactly where they are, recognising leadership not as hierarchy, but as responsibility, presence, and impact.
The workshop explored how creatives can move beyond working in isolation and into roles that influence systems, institutions, and communities—without losing integrity, care, or cultural grounding.
Participants engaged in conversations around:
- Creative leadership as a lived practice
- Stories from the field
- Negotiating creative work
- Creative economy;
- Leadership and management styles
- Building sustainable initiatives rooted in values
- Translating creative work into collective impact
A Programme Rooted in Arts Management
Grounded in arts management frameworks, the programme bridged creative intuition with structure, strategy, and long-term thinking. Sessions balanced reflection with practical tools, allowing participants to connect personal practice with organisational thinking. This approach reflects Katha Pilipinas’ broader commitment to supporting creatives not only in making work, but in sustaining livelihoods, stewarding communities, and shaping cultural ecosystems.
Learning From Lived Experience
The programme featured conversations and sessions led by cultural workers, creative practitioners, and leaders connected to the MADE network and Katha Pilipinas’ wider ecosystem. Drawing from lived experience across the creative industries, speakers shared insights on leadership, collaboration, and navigating creative work within institutional and community contexts.
Rather than positioning leadership as a fixed formula, the workshop emphasised learning through dialogue, reflection, and shared experience—creating space for participants to define leadership on their own terms.
The programme was further strengthened by the presence of partner institutions including the IPOPHL Bureau of Copyright, DTI Negosyo Center, and Metrobank EARNEST. Through dedicated consultation centres and spotlight sessions, participants had access to practical guidance on intellectual property, enterprise development, and financial readiness—bridging creative leadership with the systems and support structures needed to sustain creative work in real-world contexts.
Community at the Centre
Beyond skills and frameworks, Leading Beyond Limits was anchored in care. The programme created a supportive environment where participants could speak honestly about challenges, ambition, fatigue, and responsibility, recognising that leadership can be both empowering and demanding.
This ethos reflects how Katha Pilipinas works across all its initiatives: through reciprocity, collaboration, and trust. Learning was not transactional, but relational.
Looking Ahead
Leading Beyond Limits represents an important milestone in Katha Pilipinas’ growing body of learning and leadership programmes. As the organisation continues to expand its work across arts management, skills development, community building, and policy engagement, future programmes will continue to build on this foundation.
At its core, the programme reinforces a simple truth that guides Katha Pilipinas’ work:
We do not just advocate for community care, we practice it.
Through intentional design, meaningful partnerships, and people-centred leadership, Leading Beyond Limits reflects what is possible when creativity is treated not only as expression, but as a force for collective growth and lasting impact.