A home for artists… after 75 years
A two-story, 200-sqm lot in Silang in Tagaytay will serve as a permanent home by artists for artists—fulfilling a dream incubated 75 years ago by the Art Association of the Philippines (AAP).
With 12,000 members, the AAP is now the biggest and oldest umbrella national artists' organization. Founded by Purita Kalaw Ledesma as a social group in 1948, its rich history boasts national artists and international luminaries—among them Vicente Manansala, Jose Joya, Ang Kiukok, Jerry Navarro, Frederico Aguilar Alcuaz, Botong Francisco, and living legend BenCab.
But with the ebb and flow of AAP, it has largely been homeless. Now, its current set of officers, led by master visual artist Fidel Sarmiento, wants to create its own home, something that’s both an office/gallery and an educational center.
AAP officers—including VP Roger Santos, secretary Margaret Lim, treasurer Monette Alvarez, and board director Lulu Olan—along with a network of friends and artists, are painstakingly painting this new home, stroke by stroke, layer by layer. Call it their biggest collaborative “obra maestra.”
Sarmiento said, “The need for an AAP Tahanan became imperative when we were unceremoniously booted out in 2014 from the Kanlungan ng Sining or Art Haven in Rizal Park.”
From 2002 to 2014, the AAP paid 12 paintings monthly as rent money to the National Parks Development Committee. Artists like Randalf Villa, Emmanuel Balboa, Mark Louie Gonzales, Averil Paras, Joseph Villamar, and Robert Fernandez started their careers at the Kanlungan.
But NPDC’s new chief padlocked the Kanlungan in 2014 and commandeered it as an office. On top of that, added Sarmiento, “a few months after, a huge tree fell on its roof, blocked its entrance, and made the building useless.”
So he vowed to build a permanent AAP house “to avoid being at the mercy of revolving government officials.” Inspired by two successful artist-sponsored fundraisers for Ondoy and Ormoc victims—Artabang 1 and Artabang 2 in Cebu with Michael Dino, Presidential Assistant for the Visayas under President Duterte—Sarmiento pushed for Artabang 3 among Cebuanos—but this time, to raise funds to build the first-ever AAP home.
“We asked 80-plus artists to donate their paintings for a one-night auction on Dec. 19, 2019, where we raised P4.5 million,” explains AAP secretary Lim.
The need for an AAP Tahanan became imperative when we were unceremoniously booted out in 2014 from the Kanlungan ng Sining or Art Haven in Rizal Park.
After scouring Metro Manila, the AAP’s limited budget brought them to Barangay Ulat, Silang, Metro Tagaytay, for the next step towards their dream home: buying the P1.8 million, 200-square-meter lot.
But COVID slowed the building process; and after the March 2022 groundbreaking, expenses piled up, from taxes to materials to weekly payrolls. To help out, contractor/engineer John Morales, architectural designer Sarmiento and designer of the sculptural facade Sam Penaso all worked pro bono.
Donations in kind trickled in. An artist donated 10 cement bags; another 20 bags.
By the third quarter of 2022, SM offered The Podium and Aura for the artists to put up fundraising exhibits where they generated close to P1 million.
A few students from Sunshine Place in Jupiter, Makati, where Sarmiento teaches painting thrice weekly, donated a few more million in cash and kind.
Construction halted at the start of 2023 but restarted in late March, with donated materials through Wilcon Home Depot and other generous art patrons.
The AAP Tahanan aims to:
Be a central office for different groups of artists from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
Serve as a gallery for out-of-town artists who need to exhibit their works but cannot afford accommodations.
Be an educational center for visual arts for high school students by conducting regular workshops.
Be the face of the Filipino artist to the world.
That artistic dream is not so far off anymore, with continued support and donations.
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Donations can be made to: AAP Home - Art Association of the Philippines, Inc. through China Bank Account No. 122-124181-2.
