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Caregiving 03 April 2008 |
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AT the UNESCO-ITI World
Theater Week celebration, I was witness to a different kind of
caregiving. This had nothing to do with the aged, the sick nor the infirm that we usually associate with caregiving, although the celebration that week also had so much to do with one aging, ailing and infirm -- mother earth, and many of its cultures and peoples. A brainchild of Cecile Guidote Alvarez, Presidential Assistant for Culture and Executive Director of the National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCCA) and Education Undersecretary Dr. Vilma Labrador, Chairman of NCCA, the week-long celebration is institutionalized under Proclamation 1262 issued by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on March 21, 2007. Under that proclamation, March 21-27 of every year is set aside as United Nation’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the International Theatre Institute (UNESCO-ITI) World Theatre Week. The idea and concept of a World Theatre Week was first broached in 1961 by ITI, during UNESCO’s 9th World Congress in Finland. According to the President’s proclamation, "World Theatre Week is an occasion for theatre artists of varied disciplines in performance and media arts to celebrate the power of Theatre to bring people together and an opportunity to share with audiences the wealth of each country’s heritage, history, habitat, theatrical traditions and expertise modeling cultural caregiving for marginalized sectors and disadvantaged youth exemplified in the Philippine program of the Earthsavers Dreams Ensemble honored as UNESCO Artists for Peace." Three groups -- Binirayan Foundation of San Jose, Antique; Pagdungawan of Mati, Davao Oriental; and the multi-awarded Sinangduyon Cultural Troupe of Tangub, Misamis Occidental -- did very evocative and eloquent interpretations of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Other performers, on a different night, were: Dagway Sigmahanon of Sigma, Capiz; Teatro Benalembang of Lapuyan, Zamboanga del Sur; and, Teatro Isabela of Isabela State University. The eight MDG’s, which we hope to attain by 2015, are: To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; and develop a global partnership for development. These goals are now integral to our Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP). The venue of the presentations was the theatre by the ruins, the Raha Sulayman in Intramuros, which was converted or inaugurated into a "peace center for poverty alleviation." We were welcomed by the new Intramuros Administrator, Bambi Harper, my neighbor in this page of the Manila Bulletin. Also at the show, together with Cecile and Undersecretary Labrador, were Komisyoner ng Wika Millet Abdurahman; NCCA Cultural Coordinator Frank Rivera; and a special guest from New York, USA, Presidential Merit Awardee Bert Florentino. The performances and the renditions by the young talents were very touching and inspiring. In depicting extreme poverty and hunger, maternal and child care, environmental sustainability and overall growth, they used dramatic and ingenious ways of underlining the extreme sense of urgency in the MDGs. "In order to represent the world in all its complexity, the artist must bring forth new forms and ideas," renowned French-Canadian artist Robert Lepage said, as he challenged our own artists to reinvent themselves by embracing new tools and new languages. The performances that night showed that we could not have fallen short of Mr. Lepage’s expectations. It is said that the development of a people is founded on the strength and vitality of its national culture. Where the culture is weak, progress can only be meager and uneven. Where the culture looks to others for its sustenance, it cannot become the vehicle for national transformation and development. To this end, we must brace ourselves for a longterm and sustained effort at cultural strengthening, involving the giving of importance to local and indigenous culture, bridging gaps and differences between and among our regions toward the forging of a strong sense of national identity. Also last week, I was with the artists of Luzon and the Visayas at the 2nd Art-Link Painting Exhibit at the Cebu Country Club. Coming from the cultural caregiving in Manila, I had occasion to challenge our artists to create mindsets and values that will contribute to our inner peace, spur individual growth and sustain national development. Cebu’s Ka-Alyado ng Sining is headed by Atty. Jojo Allado. Art, I told them, can be a vehicle for concord and harmony. |
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