CCP's 'Trojan Horses'? Beyond A Manipulative Benevolence
CCP's 'Trojan Horses'?
Beyond A Manipulative Benevolence
By Cesare A.X. Syjuco
Published in: The Manila Times, July 11, 1987
MY life-long inspirational mentor, the great contemporary Filipino poet Cirilo Bautista, had a favorite anecdote to tell about the CCP's annual "13 Artists" Program. It seems that one lazy afternoon in the mid-1970's, Cirilo had decided to drop in at the Cultural Center with his cardboard portfolio under his arm - to apply in person for financial assistance via that controversial grant. He had just begun to take up paints and canvas again, and was in some need of the small stipend for materials and a suitable venue for his new works.
As Cirilo tells it, he had walked in unannounced on a startled Ray Albano, who was then the omnipotent CCP Curator. Ray took one look at the bewhiskered sage with the golden smile, and flatly refused to even consider his application for a grant. His reason? Cirilo was "much too old" for the program! Albano apparently felt that only unweaned upstarts, fresh out of short pants, were worth developing. And sadly enough, still another potentially-important new talent was denied his golden opportunity, simply because he was too old to boogie.
As fate would have it, the CCP's newly-annointed Visual Arts bosslady, Judy Freya Sibayan, appears to have been hatched from the same egg. The criteria she has drawn up for the rejuvenated "13 Artists" Program would have the deserving and the needy take a backseat to plump young greenhorns, possibly because CCP's public-relations orientation lacks the good sense to tell good stock from good copy.
But while the new CCP overlords often seem to share more with their predecessors than that bayside frontage, their professed receptiveness to popular opinion may yet lead to genuine reforms, Muhammad must still come to the mountain, but no longer on bended knees. The "Coordinating Center for the Visual Arts," which Sibayan heads, is tasked with providing a direct link between CCP and the greater artistic community - being a liaison body entrusted with full granting powers. Just last month, a widely-applauded circular from Sibayan had invited all Filipino artists to present their works for "possible scheduling" in CCP's calendar of exhibits for 1988. At least four new exhibition venues are being developed to accommodate more artists and greater coverage besides. And Ms. Sibayan has likewise written to a number of her constituents, asking them to nominate potential beneficiaries of their endowment program for the coming year.
All these can only provide the building blocks for a system of democratic selection that may give CCP the credibility that it needs so badly. The artworld cannot be blamed for harboring suspicions that have kept the CCP at arm's length. "The evil that men do lives after them, and there are two roads that wind in opposite directions for the Cultural Center's second lease on life.
Of course, the CCP's choice is clearly its own, and we can only surmise as to the outcome of its quest for relevance. One thing is certain, however, in the wake of its latest attempts at benevolence. History has proven that it does any of us little good for CCP to meddle in the affairs of the art world, to deliberately manipulate the course of its events, and to surreptitiously promote or discourage artistic directions to suit its purposes. It may be well then for this friendless institution to assume the role of a coordinating agency from now on, exclusively concerned with the processing of applications for grants, awards, and other peripheral assistance as may be warranted - or as one observer puts it, "to be more like Kris Kringle and less like Hitler."
With the dragon's teeth in a jar, the world sleeps more soundly.
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Cesare A.X. Syjuco, “CCP's 'Trojan Horses'? Beyond A Manipulative Benevolence” (page 1 of 1), The Manila Times, July 11, 1987
