Recently, two of my artist friends had problems, which I was able to help by patronizing their art. One is a brilliant painter who needed to find a new home for her masterpieces. The other, a teenager with a knack for illustration, needed to go back to high school to finish school and get her diploma.
This is when having money comes in handy. But really, in these tough times, when friends tell me to focus on necessities over helping others… I still prefer the latter, even if it hurts the wallet sometimes.
For me it feels like I’m giving back. Paying it forward, as others would say. There was a time when standardized tests in the US recognized my potential and put me into summer camps to develop my creative writing skills. Its not an opportunity that every Filipino gets a chance at. And I want to bring opportunities like that back home to the Philippines so our country can thrive and grow. If the cost of that is less dining out, why not?
My father always told me, with an ounce of sadness, that there’s never been a second Jose Rizal. F. Sionil Jose, famed author, also said once at a talk I attended, that there hasn’t been a second great Philippine novel. Somewhere between those two linked regrets (Jose Rizal’s two major novels practically birthed the Philippines as an independent state after exposing the abuses of the Spanish friars) – is a need to nurture more creativity in the Philippines. Whether in art or in writing, we need it. And the way to nurture art is to support it! Whether financially as customer and patron, or through cheering for the talented artists around us, so many creative people need this support. Many have doubts about what they make when they’re just starting out. Some have to deal with people who want them to do art for nothing or for free. That doesn’t fill their stomachs or even buy them a coffee to produce their art.
Nurturing art mostly requires money. And because of my young friend, I’m considering what is needed to start a more formal scholarship in the future for young creative writers and artists. Maybe it’ll be the Isabel Risone Scholarship for the Arts? We’ll see.
All things in due time.