LESSON 6: SUPPORT SYSTEMS, INSTITUTIONS, AND INITIATIVES ACROSS THE REGIONS

In the previous lessons, we scanned the historical, cultural, and political contexts
of contemporary art. We learned that the making of art does not take place in a
vacuum, but is shaped by its various contexts. In this lesson, we zero in on the institutions
that make up the support systems that shape the forms and meanings of art. This lesson
will also take us outside the classroom through a cultural mapping project that will make
us realize there is often a wide range of cultural assets and resources in the community.
Cultural mapping visualizes these assets. A student's contemporary art production based
on cultural assets of the community helps promote creativity as well as pride of place.

I - Overview of Support Systems in Contemporary Art:

Support systems of the arts include (a) institutions (b) organizations and collectives
(c) media and (d) alternative platforms. These support systems provide the environment
for facilitating production and the circulation or distribution of art. Historically, as we have
seen in the historical overview and the lesson on contexts, support systems are often
linked to patronage. In Lesson 2 we learned about how the patronage of the Church
and the Colonial State provided the impetus for the production of religious images
especially from the 16th to early nineteenth centuries, for example.

Today, as artists and cultural workers exercise their agency or self-will in their
respective practices, much has changed in today's landscape of support systems. The
latter creates a public for art by initiating events and activities that are not necessarily
about money exchange. These newer type of support systems ensure that artworks
become more accessible to the so-called art world and the broader public. We may
again recall from previous lessons how artists' organizations such as the Art Association of
the Philippines and the Philippine Art Gallery helped form a public for Modern Art in the
1950s. They held exhibitions and competitions in support of works that the viewers were
not very much acquainted with at that time. Today, as will be discussed below, there are
many other organizations and initiatives run by artists, with little - if at all - support or
patronage from the State, or collectors.

II - Types of Institutions, Organizations, and Platforms:

FAQ What are the different types of institutions, organizations, and platforms?

Support systems can be government-initiated, community or municipality based,

privately supported, university oriented, artist-run, or Internet-based. They can also be
combinations of these. Collectives and artist organizations are composed of individuals
who share similar or related practices. They are committed to experiment and develop
their particular forms. The Anino Shadow play Collective and the Sipat Lawin Ensemble
are groups that challenge our concepts of theatre productions by mixing up
performative media and even trying out new modes of public engagement.
Organizations can also emphasize their regional affiliation, as in the Black Artists of Asia
which, at its height were made up of artists from Negros. Groups like the Southern Tagalog
Exposure find a common thread in the members’ shared ideology. Pursuing progressive
as well as digital media, their material is configured toward promoting the rights of
"marginalized sectors and their struggle for social justice," according to the statement
from their website.

III - Educational Institutions:

Educational institutions such as schools and universities offer formal artistic training
and grant degrees upon completion of an academic program at the tertiary or post-
graduate level. The academe is an extensive training ground for artists, curators, scholar-
critics, and other practitioners in the arts, thereby imbuing individuals who pursue
academic activities the status of experts. These activities include teaching, writing for
various publications like academic journals, books, and encyclopedias, engaging in
creative work, to name only a few. The academe as a platform for producing and
disseminating knowledge in art also makes it a validating institution.

Several universities and colleges offer courses on Fine Arts, Design, Multimedia Arts,
Art Management, Curatorial Studies, and similar courses related to artistic and cultural
production. Aspiring artists enroll in the various art programs of the school to gain in-depth
training, receive mentorship from artist-teachers, and camaraderie from peers. Several
artist collectives and organizations trace their roots to affinities formed during college
days. On the other hand, an exemplary case of an institution offering focused artistic
training as early as the secondary level is the nationally mandated Philippine High School
for the Arts (PHSA) in Los Banos, Laguna. It provides holistic training to selected high school
students who study various fields on a scholarship with free board and lodging within the
campus carved out of Mt. Makiling. They major in the Visual Arts, Creative Writing, Theater
Arts, Dance, and Music.

Artistic exposure and training can be enhanced beyond the art school through
residencies. Artist Residencies are based on a program supported by foundations,
cultural organizations, or private entities. Here, the artist spends a period of time in a
studio or community where he/She will develop an art project, like an exhibition or a
performance. It may be collaborative, involving fellow local, national and foreign artists
or people from the community. Casa San Miguel, located in the Pundaquit fishing village
in San Antonio, Zambales offers training in rnUsic and the visual arts at the grassroots level.
'It has also opened residency opportunities for artists outside of the said village. In some
cases, Artist Residencies provide a less structured program by allowing artists to engage
in exposure or other exploratory activities that do not necessarily require a final project.

IV - Non-Government and Academic Sectors:

Non-government and academic sectors have also actively taken part in the
staging of contemporary theatrical performances in the country foremost of which are
the PETA (Philippine Educational Theater Association) Kalinangan Ensemble which stages
original works and translations for community theater performances; the Tanghalang
Ateneo that stages both Filipino plays and adaptations of the classics; Teatro Tomasino
of the Uniyersity of Santo Tomas which stages original plays written by students; and,
Dulaang UP which stages the classics in both English and Filipino, original plays
wri!tembyfiipin s, and even traditional sarswelas and musical theater.

In the 1970s, dance choreographers such as National Artist Leonor Orosa

Goquingco (awarded 1976) thought of creating a fusion between classical ballet (a
western art form) and Philippine folk dances. She created the Filipinescas Dance Troupe
which toured many cities around the world. With the coming of Martial Law, the then first
lady's cultural programs to promote the country's fashion industry also brought along the
Bayanihan Dance Company which showcased Philippine Dances in modified form to
key cities in Europe and the United States. A former member of this said company, Ramon
Obusan, National Artist for Dance (awarded ing 2006), decided to travel the entire
country to study and document traditional folk dances in their native milieu not only for
the sake of authenticity, but to provide a social context to various tribal and ethnic
dances and how these interfaced with culture, tradition, and ritual. In the mid-1970s, a
thespian from Manila, Frank Rivera, traveled to Marawi in Mindanao and with the help of
the Marawi State Univesity, formed the Sining Kambayoka Theater Group which made
use of traditional Maranao folktales and more current issues that concerned the Muslim
communities of Mindanao. They used these to form the story lines for theater, pantomime,
and dance. Artist-researchers like Obusan and Rivera have engaged more freely and
extensively in cultural research on ethnolinguistic groups during their time. In other words,
the research climate prior to 1997 may have been more liberal or permissive in the
absence of a law protecting the community's "intellectual rights." Under the Indigenous
People's Rights Act of 1997, manifestations of the IP's culture (like songs, dances, and
rituals) shall not be documented without their free, prior, and informed consent.

There are several provincial dance companies which still perform traditional folk
dances and compete regularly in folk dancing competitions. They are the Kalilayan (old
name of Tayabas, Quezon) Folkloric dance group, the University of San Carlos Dance
Troupe, the Hiyas ng Maynilad Dance Troupe, the Leyte Dance Theater, the University of
the Philippines Filipiniana Dance Group, and the Lyceum of Batangas Folk Dance
Company.

One of the more contemporary dance groups that has made use not only of
folkloric dance forms but also contemporized ethnic folk music is the UP Kontra Gapi
group which is currently under the direction of UP Art Studies Prof. Edru Abraham.

V - Museums:

In the visual arts, museums are traditionally based on a collection of objects.

Tasked to preserve heritage for the enjoyment and education of present and future
generations, rnuseums are often linked to ideas of permanence and authority. The
Neoclassical architecture of the National Museum of the Philippines in Manila exudes an
aura of grandeur, leaving beholders with the impression that the objects inside it are
treasures worthy of historical remembrance. A museum may be as large-scale as the
National Museum, which houses an art gallery and ethnographic collection in its main
branch. Or it may also operate at a small-scale like community museums that privilege
memory and the local people's pride of place. An example is the Museo San Ysidro de
Pulilan in Bulacan, founded by the town's historical society comprising of young artists
and cultural workers.

Today, Philippine dance has taken on a chameleon-like identity in the sense that
it straddles seamlessly between hiphop, ballet, local folk dancing and even
contemporary jazz. It is as though we had not only appropriated these dance forms from
various local and foreign sources but also owned them to the point whereby we win
dance competitions such as Asia's Got Talent and World Hip Hop Dance Championship
with ease.

The state-body National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) provides the
infrastructure for either wholly or partially government-funded projects on Philippine art
and culture. Aside from granting awards and enabling exhibition or performance venues,
another official responsibility of the NCCA is ensuring the nationwide representation and
support to regions not normally perceived as centers of artistic practice. One of the
projects it supported is Sungdu-an, a series of cross-regional efforts that began in 1996
comprising of traveling exhibitions, consultations, and curatorial workshops. It spans the
areas of Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and NCR (National Capital Region). Derived from the
Waray term meaning "confluence," Sungdu-an stimulated a spirit of exchange and
collaboration among a good number of artists and practitioners coming from various
places. The title of the 2005 exhibition for example, is Current, signifying recentness on the
one hand, the passage of knowledge, on the other. It also refers to the force or inspiration
that continues to propel artists in their respective practices. Among many other works,
soil paintings by Talaandig artists from Bukidnon were exhibited. Their canvases illustrate
the plight of the Talaandig communities and their rootedness to their land, the latter
reinforced by the medium that they employ. Another work exhibited is the cracked and
dismembered terracotta figures of rallyists crouching in defense of truncheons by Kiri
Dalena. She translated these into an installation of wood pieces referencing the clay
figures as carved by sculptors from Pakil, Laguna.

VI - Contemporary Art Exhibitions and Alternative Spaces:

Contemporary art exhibitions need not be confined within the "white cube"
(referring to white-walled closed spaces of galleries in common art world usage)
environment of galleries and museums. Exhibitions can take place in alternative spaces,
or the outdoors, in public spaces within a limited period of time. An alternative space is
an independent and/or artist-run initiative that deviates from rigid institutional models
where exhibition parameters are usually less flexible. As an independent undertaking,
such spaces thrive from the realization of organic programs like small exhibitions or
discussions undertaken through joint efforts of its members, and with support from peers.
With a paltry budget and a loose form of management, the projects imbibe a "do-it-
yourself" attitude, and as such, their physical life span as a sustainable space tends to be
always at risk. One of the most noted artist-run spaces and collectives is the erstwhile
Surrounded by Water; established in Angono, and later relocated in Ortigas and Cubao,
Metro Manila. The members self-published their zines, conducted informal workshops and
talks, and put up exhibitions on their own. Another example is Project Space Pilipinas (PSP)
a collective formed by Quezon-based artist Leslie de Chavez. It recently established a
small structure in Lucban to be able to host artist residencies and exhibitions. As a
collective, they also aim to draw attention to the contemporary art scene in Lucban, a
place more well-known for its exuberant Pahiyas Festival held every 1 5th of May in honor
of San Isidro Labrador.

The festival is a mode of exhibition that is transitory and participatory. Closely

related to religion, ritual, culture, and tourism, the festival's ebullience and significance
draw the multitude to publicly accessible and less intimidating spaces. Festivals of
contemporary art in some ways have appropriated the protocols of festivals in order to
link art more closely with everyday life. The Neo-Angono Public Art Festival is one such
example. Its name comes from the artist collective that organizes the festival year after
year just before the official town fiesta. It takes place in the lakeshore town of Angono,
Rizal strategically held before the fluvial parade-fiesta in honor of the patron saint San
Clemente. We know of this place as the hometown of National Artists Carlos V. Francisco
(Visual Arts) and Lucio San Pedro (Music), forebears of today's younger generation of
lakeshore artists seeking to create a balance between tradition and change. In the
public art festival, the buildings, the streets, and the waterways, are used as sites for
exhibitions, performances, film viewings, and other activities. In the second and
succeeding installments of the art festival, the artists revised the public market's signage.

VII - Market Dynamics and Recognition:

If museums are spaces of knowledge production, and galleries, of consumption,

auction houses and art fairs are places that specifically respond to the market. In this
context, art is regarded as a commodity and therefore potential property and
investment. Galleries provide representation for artists, exhibiting their works and
transacting with patrons or "clients" on their behalf. Art fairs are short-term events where
several galleries exhibit and sell art in one large venue, like a park, or inside a mall or even
a parking area converted into fairgrounds. Although the market facilitates the circulation
of art, it is important not to get lost in its workings.

Contests and awards encourage artists to create new work, keep pursuing their
practice, and recognize outstanding artistic achievements based on certain criteria. Like
the other aforementioned examples in previous lessons such as the GAMABA and NAA,
these validate an artist's work based on the evaluation of a panel of experts.

In terms of Literature, the Carlos Palanca Annual Awards has been the leading
award giving body that has encouraged and acknowledged the works of Filipino
playwrights, novelists, poets and script writers from film and television for almost three
decades. The 'Carlos Palanca Foundation, which has sponsored this yearly harvest of
literary works has also served as a repository of contemporary Philippine literature, which
is published in volume form and may be accessed in libraries all over the country or on
the web.

Foundations and corporations helm these activities as part of their outreach or

corporate social responsibility in some cases. They reward artists and at the same time,
their image is enhanced with this gesture of support for arts and culture. These
organizations also tend to acquire works of art to build up their corporate collection.

VIII - Media and Online Platforms:

Television, radio, social media, and print media like magazines and newspapers
are platforms that disseminate artistic efforts and shape people's attitudes toward art.
Knowledge imparted through these platforms is neither natural nor neutral, but
constructed according to certain leanings and ideologies. Although the range of media
channels present the promise of accessibility through its ability to reach a wide audience,
it often affords us a rather slim opportunity for engagement.

The popularity of the Internet and social media has revolutionized the way we
connect and communicate with others for instance but also brings up questions of the
digital access and communication savvy. In contemporary art practice, community and
formation and networking between local and international practitioners are ativated
online. In the article "Friend Me if You Facebook", Professor EJ Westlake, wrote that social
networking sites such as Facebook "provides a forum for both immediate and
asynchronous social interaction, creating a collaborative, interactive, and performative
text." As we shall see in Unit 3, many institutions and collectives have transacted,
campaigned, or even ran their programs almost exclusively on social media, strategically
in this age when the world has seemingly become smaller, and massive information
exchange is immanent.

Magazine, which came out in the late 1950s such as Liwayway and its regional
counterparts Bisaya and Amiyanan published the works of regional writers who were
enjoyed by a wider target audience more comfortable reading fiction in their mother
tongue. Since the 1950s and on to the 1970s and 1980s, there has always been an
ongoing debate as to whether English or Tagalog should be the language that of
Philippine literature. Arguably today, language is no longer an issue, as the rule of thumb
is any Philippine language, be it Cebuano or Hiligaynon, Waray, Bicol, or Ilocano is just as
formidable as the use of Filipino or English. This trend also gave rise to the popularity of
Filipino Komiks (comic books) and the Pinoy graphic novel, long before it was a trend in
western countries. Francisco Coching, National Artist for the Visual Arts (awarded 2014)
was one of the foremost graphic novelists to ever create an impressive volume of work in
this genre. In literature, one of the more distinguished, contemporary Filipino writers who
wrote both in English and in her mother tongue Cebuano was Estrella D. Alfon, a fictionist,
poet and playwright who was comfortable writing in English as she was in Cebuano. She
was also one of the more renowned feminist writers of her generation. Her works may be
accessed on the Internet and in several textbooks in Philippine literature.

IX - Digital Access and Communication:

In lieu of costly printed publications, various writings on contemporary art can be

downloaded from the website. Planting Rice and Discussion Lab are examples of
collectives who thrive on online exchange. They initiate exhibition projects, facilitate
exchanges, and generate an online archive through their respective websites. Working
independently and with limited resources, they collaborate with institutions and
organizations in order to realize their projects beyond the virtual spaces they populate.

Support systems affect the way art is produced, encountered, and valued. As
such, their workings are intrinsically linked with issues of access and power.