MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Kaisa Sa Sining (KSS) Visayas Network has announced the recipients of the second KSSLAP (Kaisa Ini sa Sining, Lunsay nga Artistang Pilipino) Awards. The awarding ceremony will be on December 14, at the Luce Auditorium at Silliman University, Dumaguete City.
The eight awardees are Jose Gullas (Cebu/music & cultural work/posthumous), Marianito Luspo Bohol/cultural work), Ramon Ramirez (Iloilo/cultural research), Rodolfo Reveche (Murcia, Negros Occ./cultural work), Cristina Taniguchi (Dumaguete /visual arts), Alma Taldo (Bohol/music), Dr. Vicente Villan (Sigma-Capiz/cultural research), and Mariant E. Villegas (Dumaguete/dance).
Launched in 2014, the Kaisa sa Sining Regional Arts Centers is a partnership program of the CCP, through its Cultural Exchange Department (CED), which aims to strengthen further the CCP’s linkages and cooperation with regional educational institutions, non-government organizations, and local government units in order to broaden public participation in the arts, promote and showcase artistic excellence and facilitate a vibrant collaboration between and among communities.
In the past nine years, the cooperation and exchanges between and among CCP and the KSS network have become more dynamic. To date, the KSS network has grown to a total of 67 organizations: 26 in Luzon, 19 in Visayas, and 22 in Mindanao.
The KSSLAP Awards, a recognition for outstanding artists, cultural workers, and organizations, is one of the action plans and projects that the KSS Visayas agreed to implement during a KSS regional forum held in Roxas City last 2018. In fulfillment of this plan, the CCP CED facilitated the conceptualization, planning, and implementation of the project.
In the last quarter of 2019, a five-member technical working committee (TWC) was formed composed of key representatives from four KSS Visayas organizations with CED as the lead facilitator. In 2021, the first set of awards was conferred to thirteen honorees virtually and on-site because of the pandemic.
The KSSLAP Awards aim to give recognition to deserving Visayan individuals and/or organizations who have exemplified commendable work and services in cultural and artistic endeavors and have been at the forefront of the research, development, preservation, education, and promotion of arts and culture in Visayas for at least ten (10) years or more. The general criteria indicate that an awardee must have made exceptional accomplishments in creative work, leadership, resource management, education, artist support, audience development, community service, solidarity, and partnership.
The 19 members of CCP KSS Visayas network are the Province of Capiz, the City of Calbayog, the City of Ormoc, the City of Bago, the City of Himamaylan, the Municipality of Murcia, the Municipality of Cuartero-Capiz, the Municipality of Sta. Barbara-Iloilo, University of Antique, Central Phil. University-Iloilo City, University of St. La Salle-Bacolod City, Silliman University-Dumaguete City, Holy Name University-Tagbilaran City, University of Eastern Phils.-Catarman Samar, Leyte Normal University-Tacloban City, St. Joseph College-Maasin Leyte, Arts Council of Cebu, Negros Cultural Foundation, and the Sigmahanon Foundation for Culture and Arts.
