As the article implies, the arts alone cannot do that; the purpose of the proposition is to encourage creativity, which supports the larger context of cultural change throughout the whole platform.

Questions like yours are very good ones to ask candidates when they present you with something vague, or what sounds like it may be a motherhood statement. The manner in how they answer your follow-up should tell you a lot about their level of honesty and engagement with the issues.

To answer your question specifically, I frankly don't know what the best form “support for the arts” would take, because it is something that should be designed from the input of the various parties with a stake in it. I would envision a grant program similar – but simpler and more inclusive – to the NEH in the US. At a level of PhP 10M as an initial investment, any initiative would be quite small, but I can say from a personal point of view as a writer that those brief periods when I am free from the concern of earning a living are golden, and tremendously productive; small grants of, say, 20-25K from a larger endowment fund would allow all sorts of artists to have those creative moments. And the project could be expanded and funded on a continuing basis by diverting a small percentage of income taxes earned from publishing, recording, and performing. But again, the particular application is not cast in stone; only the recognition of the need to promote arts is.

I’m almost of the view that Government should come up with a comprehensive cultural development framework and develop a multi-agency dissemination and roll-out plan.

Cinema and television is an obvious channel for influencing attitudes. For example, most products of Filipino cinema paint rich people as evil and poor people as victimised saints. There are very stories that celebrate wealth and material success. Furthermore, wealth is always seen as something acquired through dishonest means.

As such cinema propagates that victim mentality in Filipinos which (a) does not build a sense of personal accountability for one’s own personal fortunes and (b) does not enforce a causal link between industriousness and cleverness as a means to claw one’s way out of poverty.

Left to the devices of the market for entertainment, private enterprise will merely deliver what the market wants thru means where risk is lowest. Government may have to intervene by getting into that business and producing stuff (or funding/incentivising private entitites that do) that provide alternative themes and impart more productive values.

This reminds me of that Famous Hermann Goering quote: “Whenever I hear the word culture, I reach for my Browning!”

The best thing about culture is also the worst thing about culture–is its political aspect. While it has anthropological dimensions, at its core it is a political space subject to a shifting terrain of conflicting ideas and identities. One core dimension of Filipino culture is our feudal primordial identity shaped by Spanish conquista-era ideas clashing with American conceptions of equality and freedom (no matter how hypocritically practiced in the US South, among others). As with any visit to any peripheral barrio of any province would show, feudalism remains ingrained in the PInoy soul. The Chinese have their Top-Down/In-Out dichotomies, we have that lingering peasant-lord germ within our collective being clashing violently against other more modern notions.

Its latest manifestation? The NoyNoy phenomenon.

Perhaps, support better screen writers and cinematographers who would not portray & stereotype rich people and people of power as evil snobs who would simply take advantage of poor honest hard-working people–this is a tired & overused plot scenario that just reinforces our prejudices and tendency to distrust our leaders. Sometimes ability to enrich oneself is a virtue that should be emulated rather than criticized. The media shapes the imagination of its consumers, so why not use the media productively as a teaching tool and a venue for good examples? Being pro-Erap, & pro-Cory who helped him regain his beloved station, Lopez has successfully used TFC to stir hatred towards anything Gloria to the point that people will blame their dead fish on Gloria as if she was already President when they became poor. Then again, people think it is simply blessed to be poor.

But, if we would take the broader sense of the definition of ‘culture’ to include any leisurely activity such as sports, I can see how this would divert attention to more productive use of one’s time and talents. Besides, Pacquiao matches do tend to lower down the crime rate.

People who are aimless tend to end-up in compromising situations, but give their God-given talents a chance, they will tend to show motivation to seek excellence.

Many engineers and scientists were inspired by fiction writers such as H.G Wells and Jules Verne. Leonardo da Vinci started as a painter but studied anatomy, nature, and engineering to better his craft (he is considered the first medical or anatomical illustrator.) So, we see here an effect taking place when the human imagination is liberated (“Imagination is more important than knowledge”, Einstein said.)–a movement from the arts to other disciplines.

Great architecture and interior design helps give the environment a sense of order and stability and may well be a source of inspiration for many–when done excellently, ‘can also be a source of national pride. Industrial design helps improve our products which may attract businesses into our country.

“the arts alone cannot do that; the purpose of the proposition is to encourage creativity, which supports the larger context of cultural change throughout the whole platform.”

thats the point of my question.

how do we know that creativity supports cultural change in the direction that you think is viable?

it SOUNDS good, but i can’t imagine it happening.

thats why i asked about specific examples of how art can do this. i cant think of any. has art/singing, dancing, theater, movies led to cultural change anywhere?

are there examples?

if these examples exist, then we can answer specific questions like budget allocation.

As the article implies, the arts alone cannot do that; the purpose of the proposition is to encourage creativity, which supports the larger context of cultural change throughout the whole platform.

Questions like yours are very good ones to ask candidates when they present you with something vague, or what sounds like it may be a motherhood statement. The manner in how they answer your follow-up should tell you a lot about their level of honesty and engagement with the issues.

To answer your question specifically, I frankly don’t know what the best form “support for the arts” would take, because it is something that should be designed from the input of the various parties with a stake in it. I would envision a grant program similar – but simpler and more inclusive – to the NEH in the US. At a level of PhP 10M as an initial investment, any initiative would be quite small, but I can say from a personal point of view as a writer that those brief periods when I am free from the concern of earning a living are golden, and tremendously productive; small grants of, say, 20-25K from a larger endowment fund would allow all sorts of artists to have those creative moments. And the project could be expanded and funded on a continuing basis by diverting a small percentage of income taxes earned from publishing, recording, and performing. But again, the particular application is not cast in stone; only the recognition of the need to promote arts is.

interesting. how can the arts arrest the cultural problems you believe filipinos have? can we be as specific as possible, since this is just a thought experiment?

say you had 10million pesos to play with initially, what ‘arts’ would u spend it on to solve the “lack of character” you believe that ails the filipino?

Cultures varies throughout the world. We have a good Pre-Spanish culture. We were honest. Look at
the trade between the ancient Chinese and the ancient Filipinos. The Chinese traders came. They
give their goods like porceleins, utensils, clothings, beads, etc…to ancient Filipinos. On the promise
that they will pay on the next harvest. No papers were signed, no lawyers to do the deals. Just the
Words of Mouth. Truly, on the next harvest. The ancient Filipinos were ready with their payments in
the form of agricultural harvest, wild animals, gold, fruits, etc…

If you go to the Northern part of the Philippines. Ask any house to dig on their backyards. They will
find broken pieces of Ming Dymasty plates, bowls, vases, etc…
The honesty of the Filipinos were removed by the Colonizing Spanards. Who were thieves, murderers
and tyrants. We need to rediscover our past. To see the greatness of our culture.

Your earlier input and some of the other conversations of the past couple days made me realize that in a sense, a good platform is really only about two things: economy and culture. Without the means to use/develop/increase resources, the country cannot grow or even maintain the status quo, and without the cultural tools to apply to the use/development/increase of those resources, the country may as well have none of them. Concepts that large and pervasive simply can’t be pigeon-holed into categories and expressed in simple terms; only certain aspects of them can be. Yet if neither is addressed correctly and holistically, the entire plan falls apart.

I suddenly saw the light where you said:

Throughout my example platform, then, measures to encourage fundamental cultural change are provided.

I realise that we cannot shoehorn all initiative to change culture exclusively within the “Culture” category. The intended effect on culture and character will presumably be emergent from all the individual initiatives across the seven or so aspects when taken collectively.

The specific actions are there and they do address the preservation/development of cultural assets of our society whereas what I suggested which is really more around addressing or working around weaknesses in our cultural character is addressed by the whole platform you are developing.