On October 7, the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) launched an art exhibition honoring the recipients of the 2024 Thirteen Artists Awards (TAA). But awardee Catalina Africa revealed that she and the other awardees had yet to receive the full grant for their work on the exhibition.
Africa is one of the 13 new awardees of the tri-annual award established in 1970, a prestigious accolade honoring Filipino artists who “restructure, restrengthen, and renew artmaking and art thinking.” Past honorees include legends such as Allan Balisi, Kiri Dalena, and Benedicto “BenCab” Cabrera. The award traditionally culminates in a group exhibition, which the artists themselves create and organize, held at the National Museum of Fine Arts.
In a joint statement that Africa delivered during the exhibit opening, she revealed that all 13 artists felt financially neglected by the institution.
“I believe that it is important that we collectively express our disappointment with how this award is structured,” said Africa in a speech during the awarding. “As artists, we need to be paid for our labor. It was made clear to us that the only costs that we would be reimbursed were materials, transportation, and outsourced services. [This means] that we, as artists, wouldn’t be able to pay ourselves for our labor, implying too, that our labor does not matter. To be perfectly honest, there were many times I personally thought of boycotting the award because of this.”
“To add to this disappointment, only 50 percent of our budget was released in the last two weeks,” continued Africa. “This made it very, very difficult for us to create this work. Making art takes time. It takes money, blood, sweat, tears, and resources. By bringing this up here today, our hope is that the next batch does not experience this difficulty. I believe that, if this is truly an award, then I think that the budget should be given in full, given well ahead of the exhibition date, and that the artist should have full freedom on how it should be spent.”
A Delay in the Process
In an interview with Rolling Stone Philippines, Africa noted that there had been several issues surrounding grant well before the exhibition opening. “It was verbally noted during our meetings with CCP Visual Arts and Museum Division (VAMD) that the first tranche of our budget would be released upon approval of our project proposals,” said Africa. “Our deadline for submitting our proposals was April 30.”
“Initially, I was thinking it would be easier to just boycott the whole thing. But… making a statement [is] more powerful. I need to get compensated for my labor. That’s how things should work.”
Instead, the CCP only released 50 percent of the grant two weeks before the launch. What’s more, there had been changes made to the amount of money the awardees would receive before and after the exhibition. “Initially, [the first portion] of the budget was supposed to be 80 percent, and then the remaining 20 percent [would be given] after submitting receipts,” said Africa. “Then they changed it to 50-50 because of past late or incomplete liquidation requirements in July.”
According to Africa, the CCP VAMD had a call with all 13 awardees to explain to them why release of the grant was taking so long, citing the institution’s structure as the main reason. “During that call, we were asking about how we can pay for ourselves, for our labor,” said Africa. “And they were explaining that they couldn’t.”
Africa recalled that, after the initial call, the same department scheduled a follow-up call explaining the flow of money and how it’s released in governmental institutions. “They made a whole flow chart,” added Africa.
Upon asking past awardees, the 2024 cohort learned that in previous years, the first portion of the grant was 90 percent, with the remaining 10 percent given after the exhibition.
However, Africa reiterated that the real issue wasn’t the CCP staff, but simply how the release of financial resources was structured. “I think it’s really whoever is holding the money, or however the cash flows through the CCP. ‘Yon ‘yong problema,” said the artist.
Proper Compensation
After her speech, Africa noted that multiple members of the audience — including fellow awardees and employees of the CCP — had been moved by her statement. “Muntik daw silang maiyak,” said Africa. “It really hit home for a lot of people.”
When asked if she knew when the rest of the budget would be released to the awardees, Africa responded with an immediate “no.” “Our deadline for submitting our receipts is next week,” she said. “But I don’t know how long it’s going to take. Hopefully naman, medyo mapapabilis, kasi after the speech… [someone from CCP] said, ‘We’ll be sure to address your concerns.’”
“Initially, I was thinking it would be easier to just boycott the whole thing,” she added. “But… making a statement [is] more powerful. I need to get compensated for my labor. That’s how things should work.”
CCP, in a correspondence with Rolling Stone Philippines, released a statement in response to the joint remarks of the Thirteen Artists Awards recipients, read by Catalina.
“At the [CCP], we appreciate all feedback from the arts and culture community that we serve,” wrote CCP President Kaye C. Tinga. “The CCP Board of Trustees and CCP Management were present at the awarding, and upon hearing the concerns of the Thirteen Artist Awardees, we have already begun reviewing the grant process and are discussing ways we can effect changes that enable us to live up to our mission of nurturing artists, artistic excellence, and an art-appreciating public.”
“We are grateful to the Thirteen Artist Awardees for creating and lending work for the exhibition,” continued Tinga, “allowing the public to engage with this living study of contemporary art excellence.”
Editor’s Note: This story was first published with the title “Thirteen Artists Awardees Call Out CCP Over Delayed Payment.” The CCP has reached out to correct the term to “grant” to describe the financial assistance provided to the artists, who may opt to produce new work for the exhibit. Said works belong entirely to the artists and are not commissioned by the CCP.
