‘Most artists are not aware of their rights, and they are exploited’
Baguio Tam-Awan Festival advocates for protection of artists’ intellectual and property rights
The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) and the Chanum Foundation in Baguio recently celebrated the indigenous Tam-Awan International Arts Festival. A chief concern of the annual five-day festival, one among many, is the protection of artists’ intellectual and property rights.
The theme of Tam-Awan is “Hapit Di Aammod (Voice of the Ancestors): Wisdom in Shapes, Colors and Words.”
Jordan Mang-osan, solar artist and president of Chanum Foundation, told participants that “art is a very powerful tool to preserve visual records of time and experiences, and it is a visual aid for people to see the world in different and innovative ways.” He added, “the wisdom of culture art is a vehicle that can transport ideas and the wisdom of cultures to the current generation.”
For 12 years now, the festival, with its seminars, workshops, demonstrations and cultural performances, has touched base with schools in the region, and held talks to educate and enlighten artists and the public on laws, customs and beliefs in the Philippines as well as in the international community.
There were cultural performances by personable Igorot dancers who are actually criminology students in the city, which is the educational center of the North; art exhibits, murals created and unveiled, a virtual talk, lectures, seminars and demonstrations by well-known specialists in their field.
Copyright
There were seminars on copyright and visual arts with focus on resale rights; workshops on acrylic painting, coffee painting, digital art and statue-making; lectures on okir designs in the South, on whether artificial intelligence-generated artworks can be copyrighted and on globalization of creativity in Baguio; a demonstration on tapuey-making; and talks on Cordillera rituals, documenting cultural practices and on indigenous dance movements.
A highlight of the festival was a press conference on the protection of the intellectual and property rights of the artseveral ist, by five leading specialists in their field: EJ Jacinto of the Philippine Art Educators Association; Trixie Cruz-Angeles (the Marcos cabinet official who resigned for “health reasons”); Rowel Barba of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines; Rene Escalante, NCCA chair; and host Mang-osan.
“Art is an important part of the Filipino identity and we must protect and promote our artists,” Barba said. He added, “to pursue the intellectual property rights not just of the artist but of the art entrepreneur locally. Most artists are not aware of their rights, and they are exploited.”
Cruz-Angeles, a lawyer known for her advocacy of artists’ rights, declared that “tuloy-tuloy na ang sining ng mga ninuno natin (onward with the art of our forefathers).”
Escalante said that “traditional art at the local level must be promoted not just in the rest of the country, but to the whole world. This is not often disseminated in the national media.”
Baguio as cultural hub
Jacinto cited the lessons during the pandemic and said “these challenge us to continue our education, for cultural workers should be educated, including the younger generation.” He added, “One artist asked me, why is my work, a painting, being sold in the tiangge (flea market)? So we should also think in terms of enterprise, how this would affect their life in terms of enterprise. We should also teach the artists online.”
During the question-and-answer period, Barba said “the spirit (ang diwa) of what we are doing is very important. And I encourage you [the media] to go into research, for there are many areas that have not been written about.”
Cruz-Angeles said that “the conception of an artist should be clarified: “We are artists, we express ourselves. We should find out what we can do to express ourselves. I write, I make art. Art begets art; we should channel this into creative industries. We celebrate the discovery of ourselves in everyday life.”
After the presser, Escalante announced to the media plans to make Baguio City “a cultural hub” in the country. He also met with Mayor Benjamin Magalong to report on the work being made to restore the Diplomat Hotel wartime ruins on Dominican Hill and make these a tourist center in the city.
The place, where religious retreats have been held, is known as a haunted house. A security guard told me he has seen a “white lady” several times. El Shaddai members have also seen her, along with an unknown child. “Mabait naman sila (they are not threatening),” the guard said.