TOPS ArtFest opens tomorrow, 22 October, and runs through 25 October at TOPS in Busay, Cebu City. It is the festival's third edition, with more than 300 artists spread across the hilltop complex and a theme the organisers call "Building and Breaking Norms."
A good part of the program happens outdoors, so the trip up the hill makes sense even for people who do not follow the art scene. This guide covers who is showing, what happens on which day, how the ₱50,000 painting contest works and what it takes to get up to Busay.
ArtFest has grown quickly. The 2024 launch brought together over 200 artists and 24 exhibitors, and the 2025 "Legacy" edition filled the venue with more than 1,000 artworks from around 30 galleries, with tributes to Martino Abellana, Julian Jumalon and Jose Joya. This year's tagline, "Art Beyond the Canvas," points to a bigger share of installations and live work.
Who Is Showing at TOPS ArtFest 2026
Two names lead the lineup: Junyee, a pioneer of installation art in the Philippines, and National Artist Nune Alvarado. They are joined by Ronald Ventura, Romulo Galicano, Demi Padua, Charlie Co, Randalf Dila and Dino Gabito, among others. Festival director Lorenzo Miguel Dino heads the team, and the event is presented by the Cristina Lee Dino Foundation Inc. and the Sacred Heart School for Boys Batch '85 Foundation, with the University of San Carlos School of Architecture, Fine Arts and Design among the collaborators.
What Happens and When
The opening ceremony is on Thursday, 22 October at 6 p.m. in the third-floor exhibition area of the TOPS Events Space at The Circle. Exhibitions run through the indoor and outdoor spaces for all four days, with installations that go beyond framed paintings and sculpture. Expect on-site murals, graffiti sessions and performance art, plus talks and hands-on workshops, and a market with food pop-ups and artisanal booths.
The talks and workshops do not have a day-by-day timetable published yet, so check the festival's official announcements on the day before you plan around one. The two fixed dates to build a trip around are 23 October, when the plein-air contest takes place, and 25 October, when the winners are announced at the awards night.
Perspective Play: The ₱50,000 Plein-Air Contest
Perspective Play is the festival's open-air painting competition, held at The Circle on 23 October. Artists paint on site, interpreting the landscape around them in anything from realism to figurative abstraction. It is open to both students and professionals, and for a spectator it is the easiest part of the festival to enjoy, because the work happens in front of you.
Registration runs from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the 23rd. Each participant submits one original work, sized between 432 and 450 square inches, and group works and purely abstract pieces are not allowed. Students need a valid ID and may use oil or acrylic on canvas, watercolor or pastel. Professionals are limited to oil or acrylic on canvas. Painters may keep working on site until the following morning, and finished pieces go to Hostel Honeycomb on 23 October from 5 to 7 p.m. or on 24 October from 8 to 10 a.m. Late entries are not accepted.
In the professional category, first place wins ₱50,000, second ₱40,000 and third ₱30,000, with three merit awards of ₱15,000 each. Students compete for ₱20,000, ₱15,000 and ₱10,000, with three ₱5,000 merit awards. Winners also receive certificates and Art Caravan gift certificates, and the winning pieces are shown at the awards night on 25 October. Entrants can collect their artworks on 25 October from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. or on 26 October from 8 a.m. to noon.
Getting There and What It Costs
The festival is advertised as free and open to the public. TOPS itself charges a regular entrance fee of ₱100, so ask at the gate whether it applies on festival days and keep a little cash ready either way.
The simplest route is the shuttle from the IT Park Transport Terminal on Geonzon Street in Lahug. The published round-trip fare is ₱200, entrance included, and the ride takes about 20 minutes. Our Tops Cebu lookout guide has the current shuttle hours, taxi and habal-habal rates, and the jeepney routes that reach the Lahug corridor. A taxi or ride-hailing car from the city centre runs roughly ₱250 to ₱400 one way, and the road gets slow when the hill is busy.
Planning Your Visit
Opening night starts at 6 p.m., so aim to arrive in the last hour of daylight. The deck sits at about 610 metres, which makes it noticeably cooler than the city, and a light jacket is worth carrying. October can still bring afternoon showers to Cebu, and cloud sometimes closes the view, so check the sky the same morning. The painting contest is the part most affected by weather, since the work is done outdoors.
Thursday and Friday should be calmer than the weekend, which is a reasonable guess rather than a published figure. If you want room to look at the exhibitions without queues for the shuttle, go on the 22nd or 23rd. If you would rather see the winning paintings and feel the festival at its busiest, the awards night on Sunday the 25th is the day to pick.
ArtFest also fits neatly into a bigger Busay day. Temple of Leah and Sirao Garden are on the same road, and our Busay hills day trip explains the best order for the stops. If you are staying a few more days, the three-day Cebu itinerary shows where an evening up the hill can slot in.
Is It Worth the Trip Up the Hill?
For anyone in Cebu City this week with a free evening, yes. A free festival, a hilltop with a city view and a painting contest happening in real time is a better deal than most weekend plans. The main costs are the ride up and the time you spend waiting for the shuttle back, so go early, bring a layer and leave room to wander.
Sources
7 reasons to visit TOPS ArtFest 2026 – Daily Tribune, 21 October 2026
Tops ArtFest offers ₱50k painting prize – Daily Tribune, 13 October 2026
Junyee, Nune Alvarado to lead more than 300 artists at TOPS in Cebu – Daily Tribune, 17 August 2026