HUMAN
INTERESTS
By LUCELL LARAWAN
Significance of current NCCA project grant
AS I have known from colleagues in Manila and Panay, competition
is so stiff to be able to avail a grant from the National
Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) especially for
the individual category. I am very much thankful to the Grand
Artist for the recognition of my passion in the arts leading
to the approval of my research project grant entitled: “Fine
Artists of Panay: a Pioneering Study on their Works and Lives”.
This grant is in celebration of the Philippines as ASEAN cultural
capital in 2010-2011.
The study aims to document the works and lives of selected
visual artists from Panay Island (Iloilo, Capiz, Kalibo, Antique
and Aklan provinces). After this project, there is a plan
to come up with a book version of the manuscript. Such scholarly
publications are rare in Western Visayas.
The pioneering research is very significant for various reasons.
This study is in line with the mandate in the Article XIV,
sections 14 and 15 of the Philippine Constitution. This constitutional
mandate goes in the same vein as the NCCA mandate that to
“conserve and promote the nation’s historical
and cultural heritage, it shall: 1) support, monitor and systematize
the retrieval and conservation of artifacts of Filipino culture…and
all Filipino cultural treasures…; 2) encourage and support
the study, recognition and preservation of endangered human
cultural resources…;
6) encourage and support scholarly research and documentation
of Philippine cultural traditions, arts and crafts, as well
as cultural movements, achievements and personalities especially
in the literary, visual and performing arts…”.
In Iloilo, only one study on Ilonggo artists was done by
Larawan (2008). A masteral thesis was conducted by Ed Defensor
on the works and lives of Vicente San Miguel, a pioneer in
telon painting during the time of the zarzuelas.
If there had been reviews and essays on the works of Ilonggo
artists, they could not derive the Ilonggo artistic tradition
for they were very limited and “elitist”, based
on highly opinionated interviews which may lack the merit
of a scientific method of data gathering. This study will
benefit the country in general and Iloilo in particular, in
terms of “fostering the preservation, enrichment, and
dynamic evolution of a Filipino national culture based on
the principle of unity in diversity in a climate of free artistic
and intellectual expressions.”
For the NCCA, the results of the study can add to the pool
of knowledge needed in promoting and developing regional talents.
This will give the picture of the Panay idiosyncrasies which
differ from the rest of the colleagues from Manila and other
regions.
Central Philippine University where the author is connected
and other universities can benefit by realizing its cultural
objectives that promote the region’s talents. One of
the purposes of a local university should be on developing
and encouraging the evolution and development of Panayanon
identity.