Catbalogan Art Adventure

In the economies of cultural production Art as Gift Exchange is a profound pleasure. The dedication of the mural – Rosita’s Garden Anti-Corruption Diwata – was one of those events. Anne Perez opened up her new family building -The Portal – to the Catbalogan cultural community as a venue to inspire a new kind of experimental art and music presentation and gathering. Catbalogan, with a population of about 100,000 is the provincial capital of Samar, the third largest island of the Philippines. It takes 3 hours to drive there on a rough road from the Tacloban airport. It is surrounded by hills which prevents unlimited expansion. Fishing boats from all over dock at its port so it has wonderful fresh seafood. Anne has a long family history there and her 93 year old Papa lives in town.

For the celebration local artists installed an exhibit in the upstairs space transformed into a gallery. As the works arrived I wondered how they were going to arrange all the artwork successfully! In the patio area in front of the mural Anne, Chris Brown aka CBmuse and Gianni Gnu waited for their sound check. Within a few hours lights lit up everything beautifully, the sound system was in, the table for the food beautifully coifed and ready, people arrived, there was an opening ritual, the MC from the Catbalogan Office of Culture introduced the Mayor Dexter Uy, the musicians improvised, a frenzy of pictures were taken in front of the mural, we got banig medals, the food was eaten, I donated the archival prints I brought for the show to raise funds for their art education program, the family friends living in back of The Portal because their house sunk due to over excavation joined in the fun, we stepped outside onto the street to see the light show bounce off all the buildings and tricycles emanating from the José Rizal statue in the nearby square. Catbalogan knows how to put on a light show that is for sure! Thanks to the City of Catbalogan for sponsoring this celebration for National Arts Month!