Seven arts and cultural organizations qualified for the Innovation Grants Project 2020, a special project implemented by the board of trustees of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP).

Among the many proposals submitted, Ballet Manila, Casa San Miguel, FilDocs Inc., Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Colleges Marbel Inc., Sipat Lawin Inc., The Performance Laboratory and Tuldok Animation Studios will receive grants to create and produce new works in various art disciplines and distribute new content on the arts using online technology, blended or hybrid technologies.

Ballet Manila proposes the “Silver Linings: Ballet Manila@25 (Hope and Dance in Extraordinary Times),” to celebrate the 25th ballet season of the dance company. The project will showcase reimagined presentations of classical pieces as well as new commissioned work specially developed for film as primary medium.

Meanwhile, Casa San Miguel’s proposal revolves around the concept of “Spring” in different iterations through music, dance, visual arts and film. The series of eight 10- to 15-minute episodes is about renewal of hope, a celebration of creativity and how arts have served artists and communities as a medium for reflection and healing.

FilDocs Inc. hopes to continue the success of the DaangDokyu film festival and consolidate the achievements of the virtual cinema festival to sustain and further widen the awareness on Philippine documentaries through various projects.

The organization intends to produce and distribute the DaangDokyuDokBook, which contains the full program featuring over 45 documentary titles and film details, as well as essays on the study and appreciation of contemporary Philippine documentary.

It also plans to have a virtual-access library, which will offer private viewing of documentary films featured in DaangDokyu program and collection.

Nontraditional collaborations

Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Colleges Marbel Inc. proposes “OpenStudio+OpenSeason [The Dancers are Absent but the dance is Not],” an art project undertaking nontraditional collaborations within art genres integrating the performing arts, visual arts, dance and film. It will feature five short dance films, selected from the Juror’s Choice winners of Teatro Ambahanon’s Director’s Prize Competition, as well as installation art for the The Nest Art[ist]s Incubation (the Teatro Ambahanon’s art space).

There is also the Salamindanaw film project seeking to create an omnibus film that delves into memory, space and body.

Sipat Lawin Inc.’s Komunidad X Collective Business takes on “E-mahiNASYON: Community Performance Innovation for Social Change Festival,” a three-year performance innovation development platform which started in 2020 after the surge of the global pandemic and will culminate in 2022, the year of the national elections.

The Innovation Grants reach out to the regions with The Performance Laboratory Inc. being one of the recipients. In collaboration with Teatrokon: West Visayas Theatre Network and the CCP Kaisa sa Sining Regional Arts Center Partners in Negros Occidental, it launches “Ang Mga Alates,” a series of four short plays tackling current and relevant societal issues, as part of the weekly staged readings of plays written by emerging Negrense playwrights featured in The Blackbox Presents.

Tuldok Animation Studios Inc. creates an “Edutainment package for Cultural Advocacy: Reimagining Cultural Advocacy through Integrated and Synergized Edutainment,” which will include two five-minute animated folktales and one Pinoy komiks folktale with mobile app for an augmented reality component.

The project aims to inspire Filipino artists to create compelling, world-class animated films highlighting Filipino myths and legends. Through this, the organization hopes to raise awareness on the rich Filipino folk heritage through modern retelling using new technology.