P[e]NORAMA

 

 

 IN an article in 2006 (Art not just for Art’s Sake published in Health and Lifestyle), I wrote:

 

 

“Art accomplishes rather easily, what lectures, symposia, and other conventional awareness campaigns often fail to accomplish — an overwhelming impact upon and tremendous response from the audience. For when art speaks, barriers — be they religious, linguistic or cultural, are easily transcended; and the message, however subtle, is readily translated to a language we all understand, and echoed at a pitch too difficult for us to simply ignore. And with the barriers effectively reduced, and the message staring us in the face, we then become more equipped to listen attentively and act accordingly.”

 

I have always believed that the arts can be utilized to address our social problems and to put into proper perspective our idea of who we are as a nation.

 

The raping of our collective soul by our invaders, especially the Spanish, has made us believe we are lowly, and made us forget that we are as good as any other race in this world. And so now we have a fragmented idea of who we are. But focusing on the arts and getting deeply reacquainted with our culture can bring us the healing we sorely need. The arts can help us connect deep inside us, and remember and appreciate who we are as a people. Like a looking glass, the arts can help us what we are made of and make us realize that we have what it takes to effect the kind of changes we need to turn around our current situation.

 

Yes, I deeply believed this, and had verbalized it in several occasions, but only when I joined the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) in December 2008 on a part-time basis (mainly because my soul seeks that I be immersed in the arts), that what my beliefs were validated. At NCCA, I witnessed for myself how arts can transform lives. And more so, I have met people who share my views. My boss, Cecile Guidote Alvarez, repeatedly verbalized exactly the things I have kept in my heart, but couldn’t put to words. In her column in our arts page last Friday (April 3, 2009), she wrote the very things that had been lodged deeply in my heart: Let me quote some:

“…we can win the war against poverty and pollution, drugs and disunity, crime and corruption, terrorism and tyranny, ignorance and injustice—not by compulsion but by persuasion, not by force but by art.”

 

“More than speeches—a painting, a poem, a song, a play, a dance piece, animated legends inspiring stories of love, heroism and courage of commitment—can bring the message across and carry the cries to stop the violence against mankind and Mother Earth.”Children perform folk songs using recycled bottles as musical instrument.

 

 “Theater provides a mirror to forge our identity and social conscience while recharging our memory. Without memory, we will never learn from the mistakes of the past and we wouldn’t know where to draw our strength as a springboard to reach our goals and realize our dreams of peace and sustainable development.”

 

“If you consider wealth in terms of dollars and cents, you could believe we’re in some kind of trouble. Because we are lacking in terms of dollars and cents, we still have a huge debt, and we’re facing so many disasters. If this is your perspective, then you would really be depressed. But if we consider the fact that under any standard, the Filipino talent is second to none, that we’re really a race with a history of artistic genius, then we will realize that this gold mine of talents is something that we can utilize to confront, and turn around whatever crisis we’re facing.”

 

“Consider the wealth of our heritage. The UNESCO has named so many sites as World Heritage treasures, both tangible and intangible. We have to claim this. The problem however, is that we’re so fragmented, we’re so divided, and negative in outlook and that is why we’re having such a difficult time to cope. But if the artists are able to conscienticize and stimulate the kind of community spirit that is so essential to achieve, then we have really nothing to fear. This is the essence of a peaceful cultural revolution. Culture is connected with everything—it’s the spine. And the arts must be understood as such—not just as the icing, but rather as an essential part of development.”

 

“Knowing who we are, we become aware of the wealth of our history, heritage, habitat, language and patrimony. But we have to claim it. We have to underscore it, and from there gain the strength and faith in the knowledge that whatever we confront now we can transform, we can change, we can win, and we can triumph.”

 

Indeed, my joining NCCA was like coming home. Here, I have witnessed at work  what I used to hold only as abstract ideas. Here, I’ve been part, although so far only in the dissemination, of projects that reach out to the country’s vulnerable groups, equipping them with the confidence and the skills to stand on their feet, and enhancing the talents they innately possess. At NCCA, many out-of-school youths have been discovered and given training and support.