A 2013 Photo Review of CANVAS' Year That Was

The year began with a milestone in the contemporary art scene. 24 galleries and art groups were selected and invited to join what turned out to be an "overwhelming", "outrageous, reverential and fun" Art Fair Philippines.

CANVAS was both honored and excited to participate, and our booth featured 5 of the best - Elmer Borlongan, Manny Garibay, J Pacena II, Anthony Palomo and Don Salubayba - all exploring the unique and pervasive influence of basketball on our national culture.

We're already looking forward to Art Fair Philippines 2014 in February. Based on what we've heard (and even seen) of what the other galleries have in store, the whole event promises to be equal if not better than the original.

2013 also marked the 150th birth year of national hero Andres Bonifacio, and to celebrate and pay tribute, CANVAS centered its 5th annual Looking for Juan Outdoor Banner Exhibit around the theme "Revolution."

Over eighty artists submitted works depicting the legacy and continuing relevance of the Supremo, and these originals were all showcased again at the Vargas Museum in the University of the Philippines...

And, consistent with CANVAS' Looking for Juan Program's goal of making art more accessible and relevant to the public, tarpaulin art banner versions of the artworks again lined the Academic Oval of the University of the Philippines...

...the mountainside of the BenCab Museum in Baguio, as well as the perimeter fences at several construction sites in Bonifacio Global City...

The banners also found their way to Singapore as part of the Philippine Embassy's celebration of Bonifacio's sesquicentenary.

The "Revolution" exhibit also caught the eye of Land Bank, which then invited CANVAS to reprise the show at their corporate lobby in Manila as part of the bank's year long celebration of its own 50th anniversary.

In addition, CANVAS hosted several other art exhibitions throughout the year, including a solo by rising artist Dave Lock (which was held simultaneously with the Banner show at the Vargas Museum)...

... as well as various individual, two-person and group shows  and book launches at CANVAS Gallery and Garden...

Books, of course, are a large part of what CANVAS is all about. 

In December, we launched "The Cat and the Bat and Other Fables", adapted and translated into Filipino by Rhandee Garlitos, with artworks by Elmer Borlongan. The artworks were actually circa-1993 pen and ink Borlongan sketches that we previewed, still at the UP Vargas Museum in November...  

2013 also set us up for the publication of 3 original stories from our Romeo Forbes Children's Story Writing Competition: "The Triangle Man and the Flightless Diwata" by Kate Osias, with artworks by Dex Fernandez... 

..."Here Be Dragons" by Victor Ocampo. (The highly anticipated first set of artworks by Jon Jaylo were previewed at the Ayala Museum late in 2013)...

... and "A Fish Tale" by Becky Bravo, with artworks by Daniel Dela Cruz. This will be our first children's book brought to life by sculptures.  :-) 

These new books can't come soon enough, as we ramp up our pursuit of the dream of handing out a million of our books to a million Filipino children in the next five to ten years. 

Thus, this year, our books also hitched a ride with a group of graduate students and professors of the University of the Philippines National Institute of Geological Sciences, who had embarked on a 3-week long mapping exercise of remote Batanes. We can now say that our books have reached even the northernmost inhabited island of the Philippines - Itbayat, as well as Sabtang and the main island of Batan...

We also raised funds to bring our books to child survivors in the Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda ravaged provinces (particularly Tacloban City in Leyte (shown above), Bohol and Coron (shown in two photos below)... 

... and in many other disadvantaged communities throughout the Philippines from Zambales to Bulacan to the urban poor communities of Tondo...

Meanwhile, we didn't forget the children displaced by the conflict that shook Zamboanga City in Mindanao, several weeks before Typhoon Haiyan hit. More than two thousand CANVAS books, with "Nadia and the Blue Stars" also being given a local dialect translation (chabacano), were printed and went direct from the press to the pier and immediately sailed for Mindanao.

A local NGO called Project Banig then used the books to conduct basic psychosocial intervention for displaced children affected by the armed conflict. The promise and potential of the books as useful tools to help children deal with trauma and displacement are best captured by a couple of reactions from two of the children helped by Project Banig.  

One girl said, “Kailangan natin maging tulad ni Nadia kasi siya ang nagsysymbolize ng pag-asa.  Hindi tayo pwede mawalan ng pag-asa.” (We need to be like Nadia who symbolizes hop.  We cannot lose hope.)

Another striking comment was made by a 16 year old boy who, after reading "Nadia and the Blue Stars" observed, “Wala talaga nananalo sa gera.  Lahat talo. Muslim. Kristyano. Lahat biktima.” (No one wins in war.  Everyone loses.  Muslims. Christians. Everyone’s a victim).

To date, we have given away over 30,000 books, and have raised funds and established partnerships to give away another 20,000 books by the first half of 2014.

We have been told numerous times that for many of the children, our books turn out to be the very first in their personal collection. If only for the hope that this will continue on to a lifetime habit and love for reading, even for just one child, we will say it again - of all the things we do and have done in CANVAS, giving away books, then, gives us the most satisfaction and pride. 

Finally, we will end this review of a year filled with big ideas with a brief recap of TEDxDiliman, our annual event built on the idea of spreading ideas worth sharing.  Early in 2013, Gibo Teodoro accepted our invitation and gave a rare presentation on his ideas and reflections on various national issues at TEDxDilimanSalon, which we held at CANVAS Gallery and Garden. 

We also attended TEDActive in Palm Springs, California, thereby enabling us to lift the audience limit on our main TEDxDiliman event...

...which then resulted in our biggest (and some say, best) TEDxDiliman yet, as nine invited speakers (right to left - Reina Reyes, Jonathan Yabut, Marina Cruz, Don Salubayba, Rica Bolipata Santos,Joey Ayala, Marvic Leonen, Popo Lotilla, and Mark Anthony Carpio) shared their big ideas on "Things That Matter."

Inspired world-class performances by Ballet Philippines, Peso Movement and the Philippine Madrigal Singers took the event to a different level...

(You can view all the talks and performances by clicking here.)

And, as if to punctuate a banner year for CANVAS, a performance/talk by Joey Ayala on the Philippine national anthem touched a raw public nerve, and went seriously viral.


In conclusion, 2013 for us showed the power of ideas and dreams... We don't know how we will top it, but we will certainly give it our very best. And with your continuing help and support, we are reassured and ever hopeful.

We live in interesting times (an understatement, if there ever was one), which is both a curse and a blessing.  The challenges that face us - as individuals, as families, and as citizens of this country and the greater global community - can break us. But they also have within them the seeds that give us a reason to live, and to dream and to act.

May 2014 then be a time of big ideas and bigger dreams for us all! A blessed and happy New Year to everyone!

Books for the Kids of Visayas This Christmas

In line with our bookgiving initiatives, we now want to raise funds to publish books that can be given away to child victims of Typhoon Yolanda and who will find themselves in evacuation centers and temporary shelters this holiday season.

So here's what we propose.

If you wish to donate to us and this project, you can do so by depositing your contribution (any amount will be greatly appreciated!) to:

THE CENTER FOR ART, NEW VENTURES & SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 
Metrobank (San Lorenzo Village branch) 
Savings Account 642-3-64202878-3 

Please email us a copy of the deposit slip (info@canvas.ph) so that we can properly record and send

"Profile"
by Elmer Borlongan

you an official receipt.

We will match all donations peso for peso up to P100,000.00. 

That means we're trying to raise at least P200,000.00 - half from you and half from us. That will then enable us to publish AT LEAST 4000 copies of our children's books - all of which will go to children displaced by Yolanda.

Finally, while any and all amounts are greatly appreciated, as an added bonus to encourage greater generosity, we will raffle off our framed and signed Artist Proof limited edition prints of Elmer Borlongan's "Isang Mata" and "Profile" among the first 20 people who will donate at least P5,000.00 to this cause.

Only 8 official copies and 2 artist proofs (one belonging to CANVAS which

"Isang Mata"
by Elmer Borlongan

is now being raffled, and the other belonging to the artist) were made of these prints. Because these are hand-sketched images that were created using an iPhone, there is no single original artwork in the usual sense. All these official copies and artist proofs are the "originals".

So by donating at least P5,000.00, you could have a one in ten chance of owning one "original" Elmer Borlongan artwork.

If you want to learn more about what we've done and are doing related to this, please visit our GlobalGiving Updates Page.

We hope you will join us.

Thank you.

And the Winner Is...

Untitled Contest Piece by Dex Fernandez

CANVAS is pleased to announce that Kate Osias has won our 10th Romeo Forbes Children's Storywriting Competition for her story, "The Triangle Man and the Flightless Diwata."

Other finalists, in no particular order, included Gabriela Lee ("The Carpenter and His Boy"), Gigi Constantino ("May Baybayin sa Gubat"), May Jandayan ("Dingding ng Pangarap") and Raissa Falgui ("If You Marry a Fairy").

The judges were MIren Alvarez Fabregas (stage actress, producer, film editor and mommy to 2 wildly imaginative little boys); Erika Tiu (a grade school instructor in Community of Learners who is also into graphic arts and cats); and Gigo Alampay (Executive Director of CANVAS).

Congratulations, Kate and all the rest of the finalists! And thank you to all the writers who participated! We look forward to bringing the winning tale to life as a full color children's book next year! :-)

TEDxDiliman 2013: Roster of Confirmed Speakers and Performances

THINGS THAT MATTER SESSION 1: ART AND CULTURE

Indigenous Music Joey Ayala

Limitations TEDTalk

Books Rica Bolipata Santos Shadow Plays Don Salubayba Stories TEDTalk

SESSION 2: PERSONAL PURSUITS

Maps Popo Lotilla

Adoptions Marina Cruz

(Special Performance - Joey Ayala)

Lawyers Marvic Leonen

The Brain TEDTalk

SESSION 3: THE BIG STUFF

Music Mark Anthony Carpio

Science Reinabelle Reyes

Heroes as expressed in an excerpt from [Rock] Supremo Ballet Philippines and Peso Movement

Passion Jonathan Yabut

Education TEDTalk

(Special Performance - Madrigal Singers)

Join the CANVAS Family: Full-Time Job Opportunity!

CANVAS is a small, 8-year old nonprofit dedicated to the promotion of greater awareness and appreciation for Philippine art, culture and the environment.

We are in the midst of an effort to scale our reach and impact, and now seek a full-time Public and Social Media Outreach Officer to take the lead on two priority activities: first, to coordinate and scale our efforts to work with other nonprofits, communities and schools to systematically give away more of our books to disadvantaged children throughout the Philippines; and second, to oversee CANVAS’ online communications strategies.

The Public and Social Media Outreach Officer will work collaboratively with the Executive Director and the rest of the CANVAS family primarily to:

• Identify, cultivate, solicit and nurture partnerships with public schools, local communities, nonprofits, socially responsive corporations and other interested agencies or individuals to ensure the efficient, effective, distribution of CANVAS’ books to poor children throughout the country, including developing activities and events to enhance the use of these books for learning;  

• Record, measure and document CANVAS’ “One Million Books for One Million Children” initiative;

• Design and implement a social media outreach strategy to increase public awareness for CANVAS’ “One Million Books for One Million Children” initiative; and to

• Regularly update CANVAS’ online assets (websites, facebook, twitter, etc.).

The ideal candidate will have a demonstrable mix of the following qualifications:

• College graduate

• Experience and ability to work effectively with people of diverse interests and backgrounds, such as public school officials, teachers, and students, and residents urban and rural poor communities; as well as high level decision makers in the corporate and nonprofit worlds

• Experience in social media marketing across various platforms, blogging, and website design

• Knows how to confirm mutual understandings, and close deals

• An interest in the arts

• Excellent English and Filipino written and verbal communication skills and presentation skills

• Strong project/event management and time management skills, with proven ability to work within tight timelines and limited budgets

• Close attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple activities

• Willingness to work occasional evenings/weekends

Compensation and benefits will be generous and competitive.

Starting date will be as soon as possible.

If interested, please email your cover letter and CV to info@canvas.ph.