Patronage in the artsand in education

In the year just past, three business firms – two oil companies and a bank – lent their usual support and encouragement to visual artists, while a financing agency continued to extend educational opportunities to the youth.

Several artists have been given a head start by the prizes they have won in art competitions, making a name for themselves in subsequent years. The earliest of these contests was held by Shell in 1951, and firmly established painters like Juvenal Sanso and the late Jose Joya – the latter was posthumously named a National Artist – were among the initial winners. Last year’s art tilt drew more than a thousand entries throughout the country, a reassuring indication that art students have been eagerly following the Shell contests for more than three decades.

The awarding ceremony of the 36th Shell National Students Art Competition for painting and sculpture was held last Oct. 16 at the SM Megamall in Mandaluyong.

Through 20 years, the Metrobank headed by board chairman George Ty and the Metrobank Foundation, with Elvira Ong as its chief implementor, have been holding art competitions whose participants have likewise been steadily growing in numbers. In mid- September, the awarding ceremony and exhibition of winning art works were held at the auditorium of Metrobank Plaza in Makati, with Mr. Ty and Ms. Ong in attendance.

The "youngest" of the patrons is ArtPetron; only three years old, it has become something of a byword in the cultural scene. Its latest theme was Lumang Tanawin, Bagong Likhain, and contestants were enjoined to seek inspiration from landscapes, eco-tourism sites, the environment and natural resources’ protected areas, and UNESCO’s World Heritage sites.

With National Artist Napoleon Abueva as chairman of the jury, substantial cash prizes were offered to winners in the oil and watercolor categories. The schools of the winners also received prizes. The winning works are now featured in Petron’s wall calendar for 2004.

Petron Chairman and CEO Nicasio I. Alcantara’s message read: "The participants were encouraged to include not just the scennery but also elements that showed the locale’s indigenous lifestyle, people or dwelling places" – thus encompassing culture in its widest sense.

Petron President Khalid D. Al-Faddagh expressed similar sentiments: "Since its inception three years ago, ArtPetron has become a major venue for young Filipino artists to showcase their talent and creativity while giving tribute to the country’s rich cultural traditions and breath-taking natural wonders."

CCP President Nestor Jardin, guest of honor at the awarding ceremony, called ArtPetron’s patronage "heaven-sent" because the government cannot adequately subsidize artistic activities.

Besides giving out the Mother Teresa Awards, the RCBC Foundation, chaired by Alfonso Yuchengco, extends annual scholarships to over five hundred deserving students in Luzon, the Visayas and far-flung Mindanao. Many trapos discourage the education of the masses so these can be readily manipulated during the elections. What tremendous service the RCBC Foundation is rendering our gravely perturbed country through its scholarship program!

With the political picture rendered utterly confusing by moral values being lost to pragmatism, with criminality, insurgency and terrorism on the rise, with calamities unabated, with progress aborted by the magnitude of corruption in and out of government, and with our economy down the drain, patronage by big business of the arts and education gives the future a semblance of hope.