Attention art lovers and collectors. There will be an art auction at León Gallery in Makati City (Rufiño corner Legazpi streets.) on Feb. 7, 2 p.m. This will be for the benefit of the scholars of the Asian Cultural Council (ACC) Philippines, which is celebrating its 15th year.
This was announced at a recent press conference at Milky Way Restaurant, Makati, by Teresa Rances, ACC Philippines program director. The Council is based in New York.
To date, there have been over 60 grantees of the ACC Foundation, many of whom went on to become big names in the cultural scene. These include director Chris Millado, dancer Nestor Jardin, playwright Nicolas Pichay, director Loy Arcenas and singer Grace Nono.
For 2014, the four grantees are Carissa Abea for dance, Teresa Barroso for music, Dexter Fernandez for visual arts, and Lina Ladia for museology.
“All applied through the website (asianculturalcouncil.org) and all applications are sent to New York,” said Rances. Through a fellowship program, grants are given in archeology, architecture, art history, arts administration, art criticism, film, photography & video, conservation, crafts, dance, design, literature, museology, music, new media, painting, sculpture & installation, printmaking and theater.
Twenty art works will be auctioned at León Gallery, including paintings by well-known names like Phyllis Zaballero, Manny Garibay, Elmer Borlongan and Charlie Co, along with works by ACC grantees Don Salimabay, Sam Penaso and Ambie Abaño.
The artists, some of whom will be present, will donate a portion of the sales to the ACC for the use of the grantees.
In addition, the gallery has some 100 works which will also be auctioned, with a portion of the sales going to the grantees through the ACC.
Any artist can apply for a grant from the ACC, Rances said. The application this year is open from September to Nov. 1. They will be interviewed in February 2016, and by March the winners will be known. The rest of the year will be open to them, and the grantees usually choose to stay for 3-6 months in a place in the US where they can hone their “craft and sullen art,” as a famous writer once said. (James Joyce, I think.)
“This year as we celebrate our 15th year, we want people to know what we have been doing since 2000,” the program director said. “There is an ACC Manila in collaboration with ACC New York and the John D. Rockeller Foundation, which has been helping artists since 1963.”
These include over 300 Filipino artists, some of whom became National Artists like Lucretia Kalisag and Alice Reyes.
“So let’s help ourselves now, so we won’t be too dependent on foreign grants,” Rances said.