It was a shoutout on facebook that heralded the news of the seven new national artist. Manuel Conde for cinema. Carlo J Caparas for comics. Cecille Alvarez for theater. Pitoy Moreno for fashion. Alcuaz for visual arts. Manosa for Architecture. And one for literature somebody I haven't read but hopefully deserves to be a national artist.
I don't know what the criteria is for being chosen as one. Before this I have high regards for the national artists like Eddie Romero, Nick Joaquin, Orosa and Lumbrera. But proclaiming seven at one time, seems to have degraded the award to a mere citation and nothing else sort of being a sense of pride for Filipinos. Of the seven, it's actually not Carlo J Caparas which irked me. it was Cecille Alvarez's award which shocked me. I hope that the criteria includes the pprolificness of the awardees works. I have yet to see an original work of Alvarez that truly deserves the citation.
1 comment:
The National Artist Award violates Freedom of Speech. If you accept that Government can tell what constitutes the Art of the Filipinos, what can stop it from telling us what to write, speak, think or even believe in? It should be abolished or at worst be awarded posthumously, but only by a private organization.
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