Futures that Art Funds

^{by Pablita Guanzon}

Recently, The Asian Cultural Council Philippines, in partnership with Leon Gallery, held a lunch ceremony at Milky Way Cafe for its newly admitted cohort of its various fellowship programs. The (ACC Philippines) has provided aid for almost 300 Filipino artists, cultural workers, and scholars, and continues to empower new beneficiaries of its fellowship and mobility grant programs. Now is a most auspicious time for the country’s intellectual and cultural landscape as ACC Philippines, once again with Leon Gallery, announced auctions that will directly fund the programs, enabling cross-cultural exchange and dialogue between the United States and the Philippines.

For the past 11 years and counting, ACC Philippines has been in constant partnership with Leon Gallery, the country’s premier auction house, in facilitating auctions that will fund the New York, Individual, and Graduate fellowships. This Valentine’s day, Leon will hold its auction. It will exhibit pieces such as Danilo Dalena’s ‘America’, Fernando Amorsolo’s ‘Site of UP Diliman’, & ‘Marikina’, and the great Juan Luna’s protege, Patricio Gaston O’Farrell’s Portrait of Christ- a copy of his mentor’s work. The benefit auction will be delivered with the intention of highlighting “love for the arts, love for generosity, and love for helping others realize their creative potential” as per ACC Philippines Chairman Ernest L. Escaler. Prized pieces like Amorsolo’s work depict the early state of their geospatial development, especially Site of U.P. Diliman, which he made when he was Director of the School of Fine Arts (now College of Fine Arts). Portrait of Christ was remarkable as the original piece made by Juan Luna was lost, but recovered through O’Farrell nearly identically reproducing the work. This serves as a testament to the capacity for procurement and consignment by Leon Gallery, and their commitment to safe transmission of legendary and historical works, guided by its Director, Jaime Ponce De Leon.

During the celebration of highlighting the incoming fellows, the reception was also attended by 2025 cycle recipients. Awardees like Tanghalang Pilipino Senior Thespian Antonette ‘Toni’ Go-Yadao and Playwright Joshua Lim So attended the event. So shares that he went to various locations, including the first Filipino settlement in America- St. Malo. In alignment with ACC Philippines’ vision of sharing stories through art, So conducted cultural mapping to gather the lived experiences of Filipinos in the area, drawing inspiration for his next set of works. The celebration benchmarked the fellows who could attend, and one of them was Graduate Fellowship recipient Ma. Alexa Andrea Torte, a teaching artist of dance, who graduated valedictorian of her class and Magna Cum Laude from the UP Diliman College of Music. Torte will be taking up MFA in Dance at Smith College, Massachusetts. She shares with the audience that her plans after the program are to design innovative works that promote cross-cultural dialogue with emphasis in contemporary and traditional Filipino dance and movement.

The event evokes a sense of awe as each and every cohort of artists are almost always awarded with some of the highest recognitions in their field locally, and even abroad. Beyond that, it provides hope for Philippine art and culture, as these emerging cultural workers bear the intent of extending to society what they learned during the program and train the next generation of artists. With this auction, it proves that “may pera sa art” and it is already instrumental in the grand objective of nation-building, proving what ACC Philippines and Leon Gallery aims to do. Then, now, and moving forward, these institutions serve as bastions of the arts for the Filipino people with these programs, and as heralds of what comes next in driving the country’s art and cultural ecosystem.

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