GRANTEES of the Asian Cultural Council Philippine Fellowship Program for 2018

The ASIAN CULTURAL COUNCIL supports transformative cultural exchange by awarding grants to artists, scholars, and arts and humanities professionals, as well as organizations and educational institutions from the United States and Asia for research, study, and creative work in the United States and Asia and within the countries of Asia. To achieve this goal, the ACC develops programs specifically tailored to the needs and interests of each of its grant recipients and fosters ongoing dialogue between and among its grantees and artists, scholars, and specialists, through a robust network of contacts across disciplines and across the globe. The ACC supports its efforts by seeking funding from individuals, foundations, and corporations with an interest in and dedication to strengthening ties between the Unites States and the countries of Asia.

Theatre

Joseph Keith (Jk) Anicoche

Born in Vigan, Ilocos Sur, JK is a Manila-based performance-maker, curator, storyteller and educator. He is a Theater Arts scholar of the Philippine High School for the Arts who went on to finish a Bachelor of Arts degree in Film and Audio Visual Communications at the University of the Philippines in Diliman. He is the artistic director of contemporary performance company Sipat Lawin Ensemble (SLE) and festival director of Karnabal Festival: Performance and Social Innovation. He has also been involved in various projects as a facilitator of arts – based activities on psychosocial first aid sessions in disaster and conflict areas.

His recent directing works were performed in the Asia Triennial of Performing Arts , Melbourne (2017); Project tour in Japan, Korea and Australia; NCCA-supported “Likhaan” tour in Iloilo, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Los Baños and Manila (2016). His work as a storyteller is showcased at the Museo Pambata while his art practice was featured in a documentary film during the 2016 Tokyo Performing Arts-Asian Artist Interview Series.

The ACC grant will support his research study on theater for civic engagement and education, observe socially-engaged performance-making, and attend theater workshops.

“As one of the movers of independent contemporary community performance-making in the Philippines, I, together with my company the Sipat Lawin Ensemble, will establish an alternative art school with a thrust: development of “new culture” with focus on understanding of the conditions of Conflict and Climate. The ACC fellowship will be a good grounding for me as an artist, educator and cultural worker.”

Curation / Visual Arts

Anna Marika Lissa Constantino

Marika Constantino is a visual artist, freelance writer and program director. She finished a degree from the UP College of Architecture to further studies at the UP College of Fine Arts, with Art History as her major.

She has participated in significant arts exhibitions in the Philippines and abroad, and has contributed to a number of global publications. Marika also works as an independent curator and researcher, and is co-directing the programs of 98B COLLABoratory and the First United Building Community Museum in Escolta, Manila.

She was selected as one of the Global Cultural Fellows of the Institute of International Cultural Relations at the University of Edinburgh, and participated in a cultural leadership program at the Kings College in London, United Kingdom.

The ACC grant will support her research on the existing alternative art schools (their pedagogy, sustainability, mission, logistical requirements, challenges and rewards) in the United States, New York in particular.

“All resulting research will have a direct impact on 98B, the artist-run initiative that I help co-direct. This will have a wide reach and effect not solely on my individual practice but more for the community that I am part of and that we are constantly building. Having an “educational” space that concentrates on art, design and creativity that will benefit a wide audience will add to the relevance of art and culture in an area that is often neglected in our local society.”

Curation

Maria Joselina Anna Gonzalez Cruz

Maria Joselina has been at the helm of the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD), DeLa Salle-College of Saint Benilde as Director/Curator since 2012.

She also worked for the Lopez Museum and Singapore Art Museum. She has curated the Singapore Biennale in 2008, (network) Jakarta Biennale in 2009, and the Philippine Pavilion for the Venice Biennale in 2017. She also conducted curatorial projects with the Jewish Museum, Sørlandets Kunstmuseum, the Next Wave Melbourne, and have had visitorships & residencies with Asialink, Mondriaan Foundation, Norway, Center for Contemporary Art, Singapore, and as Fellow of the Nippon Foundation’s Asian Public Intellectuals.

With an undergraduate in communications, minor in Philippine Art, she pursued a post-graduate studies in art history at University of the Philippines, after which she studied Curating Contemporary Art (MA) at the Royal College of Art, London.

The ACC grant will support her study on successful Filipino-American artists and other migrant artists. Her research will look at their practices, artistic production, the institutions who have supported them and their production engagement with the art system, and how these feed into the globalised art system.

“I am at that point in my career where I would like to devote a period to research on an idea or a phenomenon which i am sure will be highly relevant in the next few years for Philippine art… it must be pointed out that despite the ‘openness’ that Filipinos have towards various art practices, there is an underlying almost unspoken resistance towards Filipino artists who have grown up and developed their practice abroad; more so if they are successful. The fellowship will enable me to engage with these artists, and the players within the infrastructure that have supported and continue to support their development as artists.”

Art Criticism

Zeny May Recidoro

May is a poet and art writer who has been publishing since 2011. She has also been collaborating with various visual and performance artists since 2014.

She graduated cum laude with a degree in Art Studies from the University of the Philippines (UP) in 2014. She was also awarded best undergraduate thesis for her work on women artists and psycho geography. She has contributed to the Cultural Center of the Philippines Encyclopedia for Philippine Art -Visual Arts volume and taught at the University of Santo Tomas. She has also worked as museum assistant at the UP’s heritage museum, Bulwagan ng Dangal and is currently curating exhibitions and writing books on contemporary Filipino artists for the Erehwon Center for the Arts.

The ACC grant will support her graduate scholarship, Master of Fine Arts, major in Art Writing at the School of Visual Arts in New York.

“As a curator-writer, I hope to gain more confidence in my writing, to be able to contribute productive criticism, and in building the right networks and finding the best platforms that can support my visions and goals… I plan to eventually publish books on Philippine contemporary art and artists, to teach and curate, and to become a cultural critic with significant contributions to my country and its place in the world.”

Dance/Cinematography

Anna Margarita Reyes

Madge began her journey at age three with the Halili Cruz School of Ballet (HCSB). She was a guest of the Philippine Ballet Theater (PBT) before accepting a full scholarship from Steps Dance Studio (2004) where she trained in classical ballet (obtaining Distinction Honors from the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD), modern, and jazz.

In 2007, she won the Luva Adameit Prize at the 2007 National Music Competition for Young Artists (NAMCYA), and debuted as Odette in Swan Lake (2008). She joined Ballet Philippines (BP) in 2009 and became Soloist after starring in Sleeping Beauty (2011). She has also performed with BP at the Shanghai World Exposition (2010), and at the Philippine Pavillion Gala, Salvador Dali exhibit (2011), Art Science Museum Singapore.

With a degree in Visual Communication at the University of the Philippines (UP), Madge explored cinematography for her dance film (2015 Best Thesis), “Improve,” a learning tool for Filipino contemporary dancers and choreographers. Her recent venture, “Entablado,” is a platform that merges dance and film through projection mapping and large scale installations (BGC Arts Center Festival, June 2017).

The ACC grant will support her interdisciplinary study on the art of screen dance or dance film and collaborate with fellow dancers and filmmakers in New York.

“My study goes beyond the merging of dance and cinema by successfully transposing movement onto tape that is key to the new, augmented field of dance film. Building a unique vision, I strive to promote installations of value, which engage viewers to question the world around them, thus generating wider audiences. Bringing it down to a local setting, the progression of my study will not only educate the Filipino audience with a more dynamic medium, but can also help uplift the local art scene by giving it a more grounded approach for the pedestrian to experience.”

Collaboration (Design & Dance)

Elena Comendador and Elizabeth Roxas

Elena Comendador was born in Cotabato and migrated to the USA at age 11. She began her professional dance career at age 16, performing at Dayton Ballet, Hartford Ballet, Field Ballet, Joyce Trisler Danscompany, and Connecticut Ballet. She received her BA degree in Women’s Studies at Columbia University and her MFA in interdisciplinary Arts at Goddard College. She is on the faculty of The Ailey School and also an Associate Professor of Dance at Marymount Manhattan College in New York City.

As interdisciplinary artist, Ms. Comendador frequently uses the stage as her canvass, exploring fine line between sculpture, installation and costume, defying the conventions of shape and form.

Elizabeth Roxas was born in Manila and became the youngest member of Ballet Philippines. She danced with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Ohad Naharin and Joyce Trisler Danscompany before she became the first Filipina to join the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater where she was a principal dancer from 1984-1997. Roxas worked with many well-known choreographers including Alvin Ailey, Katherine Dunham, and many more. She performed in the Emmy Award –winning PBS specials “Two Dove” and Judith Jamison’s “A Hymn for Alvin Ailey” and was featured in a 1997 Dance Magazine cover article. Avenue Magazine named her one of the 500 most influential Asian – Americans.

Roxas restages Alvin Ailey’s works and is an integral part of the Ailey Legacy. She is on the Horton technique faculty at The Ailey School and is a freelance choreographer.

The ACC grant will support their collaboration to conduct a 2-3 weeklong workshop for pre-professional and professional dancers in Manila. The intensive dance art experience will involve collaboration, exploration and experimentation with movement as it relates to wearable sculptural forms. The creative process as “living” installation project hopes to be housed in Ayala Museum.

Music /Graduate Studies

Grace Nono (Dr. Grace Nono Aves), 2008 grantee

Born and raised in the river valley of Agusan in northeastern Mindanao, Grace Nono is a Philippine music performing artist, ethnomusicologist and scholar of Philippine shamanism, and Director of the Tao Foundation for Culture and Arts.

She has performed in over 60 cities and venues in over 20 countries in Asia, Europe, and North America. Grace writes about Philippine shamans’ voices in conversation with issues of gender, religion, and transnationalism. She has published two award-winning books with a third one on the way. With her team at the Tao Foundation for Culture and Arts, they run the Agusan del Sur-School of Living Traditions.

She has spent five years in New York University to complete her doctoral studies in Ethnomusicology. Moreover, since her expertise is interdisciplinary, she had to enroll for a second masters to take up courses in Religion and Gender at Yale University. Grace received her Bachelor’s in Humanities and Master’s in Philippine Studies from the University of the Philippines, and her Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology from New York University. She has received over 45 awards for her artistic, scholarly, and cultural leadership contributions.

The ACC grant will support her 2nd year studies at Yale Divinity School. As an Ethnomusicologist, she is currently enrolled in a Masters in Religion Program, with a focus on Women, Gender, and Sexuality.

“As an interdisciplinary scholar who writes at the intersections of indigenous music, religion and gender, but who has hardly taken any courses in religious and gender studies, it is necessary for me to address the gaps in my education. My scholarly pursuits directly inform and influence my artistic practice and larger community work.”