Category Archive for: arts and culture

kultura

Liza Diño, FDCP workers, martial law #culturalcrisis

Let me call it now.

With 12 members of the staff terminated in the first week of her leadership, Liza Diño has put the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) under a version of Martial Law.

And because Martial Law is about silencing critics, too, I hear that the search is on for who exactly my sources are. This, instead of Diño actually replying to these allegations — I would gladly be disproved after all. But what I’m looking at are not just 12 employees given pink slips by Diño. I’m also looking at five other staff members who have tendered resignations given how Diño’s running the FDCP .

And lest you think we’re talking about consultants with huge paycheques ala Joel Rocamora’s NAPC, what I’m seeing is a list that includes drivers and cinematheque projectionists. I’m looking at staff of the National Film Archive of the Philippines (NFAP) and the Cinematheque.  (more…)

kultura

Stand against a Dept of Culture

It could be the lack of a real functional communications team, or maybe just the general disinterest in what happens to the cultural sector, but none of President Duterte’s moves so far has been about doing right by culture.

While we might think the downward spiral started with the self-proclamation of Freddie Aguilar as head of the non-existent department of culture, which according to him meant being offered the position of National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) head instead, I tend to see the downward spiral to have begun with the appointment of Liza Diño into the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP).

All that I have said about that appointment stands: the mandate and functions of that office are clear, the requirements for an appointee, too. Diño has none of those credentials, and by agreeing to this appointment pretty much pisses on the law that created this office to begin with. (more…)

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Notes on an arts and culture agenda: a lack of representation

One of the reasons I became hopeful about having President Duterte as our country’s leader was the fact that I’ve heard him speak consistently about better treatment for workers via such measures as an end to endo, tax reform and the streamlining of government services, as well as his stance on making oligarchs and capitalists also responsible for treating workers better.

I knew this would redound to the benefit of cultural workers as well. (more…)

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Notes on an arts and culture agenda: A situationer

The recent events in our arts and culture institutions have made me think about my relationship with these organizations, given how I stand in favor of its independence, and against all these questionable government appointments.

See, the discipline I grew into in the academe was one that was critical of these institutions, looking always at the ways in which these are created to perpetuate the same forms and aesthetics that are primarily (arguably) based on the padrino system – a “mentorship” system that is about who you know, not what your skills are – and has a tendency toward keeping the opportunities (fame? fortune? haha!) within the very small circle that the cultural establishment sustains.

The amount of time I started to spend writing about arts and culture as an independent cultural worker forced me to study these institutions and keep track of what they were doing, seeing that as reference point for the work happening through private efforts, regardless of access to support. (more…)

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Notes on an arts and culture agenda: Freddie, Liza, Cecile, Nick, Irene

I take back all instances in which I said I believed in the creation of a cultural department.

Because I disagree. I disagree with Freddie Aguilar, self-proclaimed, unconfirmed political appointee, who says that a culture ministry is what we need to address the needs of the cultural sector.

No. Having been a cultural worker all my adult life, studying the laws that govern our cultural institutions, and now specifically in light of the unilateral decision of President Duterte to appoint Liza Diño into an office that she has no business leading, all calls for a cultural department will only mean State control over our cultural institutions and our freedoms.

The moment that happens, there will be no fighting any decision to turn cultural institutions into state-propaganda machines, all controlled by the Office of the President – or whoever else is pulling the strings on these appointments, real and rumored. (more…)