Culture, arts and media for development

I wish more and more people could understand the beauty of our culture, heritage and arts, and the fact that this is a source of so much inspiration and identity. This is one wish shared by everyone connected to the cultural sector that has tried to push cultural education and information out to the general public. The members of the media — writers, broadcasters and journalists — are keys in the dissemination of information. Media has such powerful tools of word, image and thought that can truly change consciousness and mindsets.

Part of the issue of the long-standing argument about national identity that our scholars debate over and the frustration of the seeming lack of values seen in the pop media culture of the masses stems from the fact that substantive information about who we are, what we are about and what it is we are expressing… is lacking. This is what culture is all about. Culture, arts and heritage are something like science and medicine. To write about topics related to these needs some technical knowledge.

If everyone were more informed about how to look and appreciate art, museums, design, heritage sites and traditional practices, then everyone would become more intimate with our culture, which is the DNA we carry around as a people. And how would this information help? Well, the audience will develop better aesthetic understanding of beauty as we define it, see the richness of our traditions that are dying because of everyone wanting to just be global at all costs; our local government will preserve our fiestas and disallow any bastardizations of our dances, music, costumes, etc. and strive to keep the authenticity.

Tourism will then embrace culture. Industry will then embrace creativity and the sectors that create products and services that actually do help our GNP. Audiences will support cultural industries to keep them alive. Government will use cultural diplomacy for the softening of trade and development will embrace culture as one of the main pillars for our country’s advancement. It’s a Herculean task and every little step counts in this process called cultural information and education. So can you imagine how happy I was when writer groups came to ask for a partnership? The writers’ issues are as valid: they feel a lack of critical substance and insight from young writers. There is need for skill enhancement as well as discernment for understanding the levels of writing — from creative writing to insight writing, to publicity work required of them in various beats such as lifestyle, cuisine, travel and even personality profiling. There is need to show the young that to call one’s self “a writer” means more than just cutting-and-pasting existing information found around.

And so at the Yuchengco Museum, we have launched a series of workshops called Culture and Media, with three partner groups: The Writer’s Block Philippines, the Freelance Writers of the Philippines and the EON Academy, with a clear objective of addressing a gap today: to share information and on writing about arts, culture and heritage; and to train writers to present these topics to a larger and popular audience. The Writers Block Philippines is composed of professional writers, some of them editors in various publications. They themselves work daily with writers and see the need to enhance writing skills. They share their own experiences as editors and independent writers. They even want to draw in more people, who are “Sunday writers,” with the hope that new writing careers can begin through these workshops.

The EON Academy is the teaching arm of EON Stakeholder Relations Firm, whose main advocacy is “branding” the Philippines. The Yuchengco Museum, meanwhile, brings in experts from the culture and arts sector to share information. Some of these culture and arts experts are themselves writers. Some of the topics include writing for film, children’s books and art reviews. Some interesting topics where the general public is welcome include conceptualizing designs from Philippine culture, trends in Philippine contemporary art, Philippine heritage sites and their relevance today, the motifs that attract the psyche of Filipino masa and many more. It’s an exciting direction in that these will allow us to delve deeper into who we are as Filipinos.

There is a vibrant visual art scene in Manila with an increasing number of Filipino artists receiving international attention but there are so few writers who can really tackle the subject. Galleries need writers to write their brochures and press releases. Travel stories abound, which can be used to highlight something deeper about local traditions or heritage sites. Writing about cuisine is also another avenue where information on culture is needed. Such information helps preserve what we have that is good and unique. Our architecture, interior, fashion and design industries need help in promotions that can articulate the uniqueness, refinement and sophistication of our designers and not just give reportage.

With the proliferation of magazines, blogs and online social media, the writers truly hold power in this information age we are in. I believe there needs to be responsibility to put out more information that is positive, life-giving and good news, as well as able to educate and entertain. Can you imagine the power and potency of all these writers if they knew more about our culture and the arts?

(Workshops and talks on Culture and Media are scheduled on Saturdays. For more information, please e-mail info@yuchengcomuseum.org, log on to www.yuchnegcomuseum.org or call 889-1234.)