Sinupalpal ng isang artist awardee ang pamunuan ng Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), matapos umano ang hindi patas na gagbabayad nito sa kanilang mga art exhibitions.
Ang Thirteen Artists Awards (TAA) ay isang tri-annual award na nabuo noong 1970s upang parangalan at kilanin ang husay ng Filipino Artists.
Ngayong tao, muling ikinasa ang 2024 Thirteen Artists Awards (TAA) kung saan gumawa ng ingay si Catalina Africa isang Pinay artist na tahasang pinuna ang kakulangan umano ng CCP sa pagbabayad sa kanila.
Noong Oktubre 6, 2025 nang pasinayaan ang TAA sa National Museum of Fine Arts kung saan ibinahagi ni Africa sa kaniyang talumpati ang isa umanong joint statements ng kapuwa niya awardees, hinggil sa naranasan umano sa CCP.
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“I believe that it is important that we collectively express our disappointment with how this award is structured,” ani Africa.
Saad pa ni Africa, malinaw umanong nasabi sa kanila na pawang ang sakop lamang ng maire-reimbursed sa kanila ay ang gastos mula sa mga materyal, transportasyon at iba pang serbisyong kinailangan nila sa kanilang art exhibit. Isang malinaw na indiskasyong hindi raw mababayaran at matutumbasan ang kanilang pagod.
“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,” saad ni Africa.
Tanging 50% lang daw ng budget na laan para sa kanila ang naibigay—dahilan upang mas mahirapan daw silang kumpletuhin ang kani-kanilang mga obra.
“To add to this disappointment, only 50 percent of our budget was released in the last two weeks. This made it very, very difficult for us to create this work. Making art takes time. It takes money, blood, sweat, tears, and resources,” giit ni Africa.
Paglilinaw pa ni Africa, umaasa raw siya na hindi umano mauulit sa iba pang batch ng art exhibitors ang dinanas daw nila, sa pamamagitan ng kaniyang pag-bring up ng naturang isyu sa nasabing event.
Aniya, “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.”
Samantala, wala pang inilalabas na pahayag ang CCP hinggil sa nasabing isyu.
