“I’m in such a boring industry. It’s all fine print. It’s all technical. What do we talk about? Death, sickness, loathsome diseases and accidents.”

That’s Pioneer Group of Insurance Companies president and retail organization head Lorenzo Chan Jr. speaking, acknowledging how people—including industry insiders like him—perceive the insurance world.

But lately, Pioneer has taken its cue from Chan, who has been passionate about theater and the arts since his stint in campus theater as a Xavier High School student.

One of the country’s established insurance agencies, Pioneer has tapped the creative arts to reach out to a younger market and inspire or motivate that generation toward artistic pursuits.

With Chan at the helm, the company is sponsoring the first Virgin Labfest (VL) tour, which will bring to five universities and/or colleges four handpicked entries from this year’s edition of the theater festival, with two plays to be staged in each campus.

Such patronage of local theater has never been done by any insurance company in the country. The project not only supported the Labfest, it also encouraged student audiences to join a playwriting contest.

Established market

So, why did Pioneer, a 60-year-old company, become an arts patron, sponsoring untested, unpublished  plays?

“The tie-up with the Virgin Labfest is a step to make ourselves relevant to the market, most especially the millennials,” says Chan. “They’re the present and future market [of Pioneer Insurance]. They’re going to be our clients, hopefully our staff, intermediaries, so it’s very important we understand them, that we have a better grasp of how they think…

“It’s attempting to hit two or multiple birds with one stone. People ask, ‘why are you doing it? What’s the payback?’ It isn’t always about payback, and certainly this isn’t going to give payback immediately. But if you’re able to instill hope, familiarity with your company and brand, of going beyond just the numbers, that should mean something.”

The jury that selected the four Labfest entries for the tour consisted of Chan, nine-time Palanca winner Glenn Sevilla Mas, who also oversees the training of Labfest playwrights, and Inquirer Lifestyle’s Theater editor Gibbs Cadiz.

Winners of the Academe’s Choice were “Dalawang Gabi,” by Maynard Manansala; “Si Maria Isabella at ang Guryon ng mga Tala,” by Eljay Castro Deldoc; and Jose Garcia’s “Birtwal.” “Hintayan ng Langit,” by Juan Miguel Severo, bagged the Pioneer’s Choice award.

The four plays will tour select schools this year.

 

Ideal friend

The VL sponsorship is a follow-up to Pioneer’s first creative arts competition, “Stories of Friendship,” which sought out the best student-made short videos (three minutes) about friendship.

“The traits you look for in an ideal friend should be the traits you look for in your ideal insurer,” says Chan, explaining how the theme applied to insurance. “[It should be] somebody supportive, [always] there when you need them, somebody who understands and supports you.”

The contest, launched only on social media and for which Pioneer had expected a modest turnout of 50 entries, drew 220 submissions from 56 colleges and universities nationwide. The winning works have not only been shared on YouTube; some of their creators have also worked with Pioneer since.

“It’s our way of establishing contact with them (the millennials) at an early stage,” says Chan. “It provides us access to the unique talents and fresh mind-set of these people.”

The follow-up project  Pioneer wanted had to be in the same vein. The initial idea was a competition of stage plays involving stories of hope (again, a theme aligned with insurance), until internal discussions took the idea further; the project could be a collaboration with an institution that not only did theater well but could also do with greater support.

What better choice than the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) through its resident theater group Tanghalang Pilipino, which has been co-organizing the annual Labfest for over a decade now, with the playwrights’ group Writers’ Bloc?

A talkback will be held after each campus show, followed by the presentation of the playwriting contest’s mechanics.

Chan says the project will give playwrights, actors and directors a bigger platform for their works, while also exposing students to quality creative works.

Peace of mind

Pioneer has been a staunch supporter of the arts.

In 2000, when Filipino theater artists took the spotlight in Cameron Mackintosh’s six-month production of “Miss Saigon” in Manila, the cast and crew were covered by Pioneer accident and health insurance. The Cadillac, chopper, costumes and the entire set, all shipped in, also had Pioneer insurance coverage.

Perhaps the most unique aspect of Pioneer’s involvement in “Miss Saigon” was its offer to insure any event cancellation. Chan says it was uncommon, but, because it addressed fixed costs paid by producers even if a show got cancelled, the producers had peace of mind.

Since then, the insurance group has been involved in theater ventures, such as those by Trumpets, a family-oriented theater company; the Philippine Educational Theater Association or Peta; and CCP.

It also covered the insurance for retrospective exhibits of Filipino masters, namely, Benedicto Cabrera (2006), Anita Magsaysay-Ho (2007), Fernando Amorsolo (2008) and Victorio Edades (2011).

Pioneer did coverage of fashion, too—the collections of designers Monique Lhuillier and Josie Natori, for their shows  in 2006 and 2008, respectively.

One of Pioneer Group’s most significant but lesser-known contributions to local arts and culture is its willingness to use its headquarters as repositories of Philippine art.

At Pioneer House in Legazpi Village, Makati, five floors are devoted to the company’s artwork collection, including pieces by Nena Saguil, Impy Pilapil and Arturo Luz.

Even Chan’s room has become a museum of sorts, its walls covered with paintings of his favorite artists such as Mark Justiniani and Elmer Borlongan, and posters—lots of them—of stage plays and musicals he has seen over the years.