Just yesterday, as the closing ceremony of the Ibagiw: Baguio Creative Festival was ongoing at the Baguio Convention and Cultural Center, there were artists outside the building lighting candles and staging a silent protest.
One of the protesters is Angelo Aurelio, an artist whose mural graced a wall beside the building's entrance for years. The mural was replaced in this year's edition of the Ibagiw Festival. There's no issue in the replacement of the artwork. This regularly happens in annual events where the branding or vision of the event changes or evolves. It's the way it was removed that angered many artists. The mural was removed and dumped like it has no value.
Worse, the artist was reportedly not informed of the removal of the mural. Even if the artist was compensated for such work, it's still common courtesy to inform him that his work is going to be taken down.
This is not the first time that this happened in Baguio City. Remember the stone sculptures that used to grace Session Road rotunda? Those were works by Gano Alberto. Nobody knows where those stone sculptures are now.
These are just the tip of the iceberg. If you talk with artists in the city (and Benguet), you'll hear horror stories about being unfed, unpaid, or simply insulted. Most of these stories come from performers (i.e. singers, cultural performers, dancers).
"Adda inted da ngem sakto lang nga pamasahe mi paawid idiay Irisan. Hihi." This is a message from a member of a cultural performing group who was among those who participated in an event earlier this year.
