(NOV. 20) – After taking five years to complete, the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) finally launched the second print edition of the CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art (CCP-EPA 2nd ed.) on Nov. 14 at the UP Asian Center-GT Toyota Auditorium.
The launch was part of the activities of the international conference “Rhetoric of Creative Partnership: Conversations on Cross-cultural Artistic Exchanges.”
CCP-EPA 2nd ed. is a collaborative project between CCP and UP Diliman (UPD) and is dubbed as the “Legacy Project.”
UPD Chancellor Michael L. Tan said UP, especially UPD, believes it is important to craft partnerships particularly those that broaden people’s awareness on culture.
“When we talk about arts and the humanities, we can talk of course of moments in history. The social sciences, all of them are part of this book,” Tan said. In addition, he said CCP-EPA 2nd ed. “shows the many contemporary developments and interpretations of culture, arts and the humanities.”
Meanwhile, Prof. Gonzalo Campoamor II, PhD of the College of Arts and Letters Departamento ng Filipino at Panitikan ng Pilipinas said the university as co-publisher “testifies its mandate to lead in research, education and extension work.”
The encyclopedia came 24 years after the launch in 1995 of its first edition. The second edition is said to be the “most comprehensive and authoritative resource for Philippine arts and culture.” It covers Philippine Architecture, Philippine Dance, Philippine Theatre, Philippine Music, Philippine Literature, Philippine Visual Arts, Philippine Broadcast Arts, Philippine Film and Peoples of the Philippines.
CCP-EPA 2nd ed. was also described as a partnership of many authors. The compendium of Philippine art gathered together scholars who are mostly faculty members of UPD, among them Professor Emeritus of Film and Audio-Visual Communication Nicanor G. Tiongson, the encyclopedia’s editor-in-chief.
Libertine Santos of CCP reading CCP Vice President Chris Millado’s message said, “Ang proyektong ito ay hindi maisasakatuparan kung hindi sa ating editorial, research at management staff na karamihan sa kanila ay produkto din ng Unibersidad na ito. Ang mga natatanging iskolar na ito ang nagsilbi bilang editor, manunulat, mananaliksik, creative at technical directors, gayon din bilang mga support staff. Ang kanilang di-matatawarang dedikasyon upang maisakatuparan itong proyekto at ang kanilang taos-pusong kooperasyon sa CCP ay katunayan na ang UP, mula noon hanggang ngayon, ay tahanan ng pinakamahuhusay na iskolar na handang maglingkod sa ating bayan.”
As goodwill, UPD donated close to 50 sets of the encyclopedia to libraries and institutions of the UP System including UPD and the Quezon City Public Library.
Parties interested in purchasing a set or sets of the CCP-EPA 2nd ed. may get in touch with the UP Press, its authorized seller, at press@up.edu.ph or at telephone numbers 8928-4391, 8925-3243. — Mariamme D. Jadloc, images by Jefferson Villacruz