Wednesday, July 18, 2007

7:42 AM | The First Cultural Season of 2007-2008 for Silliman University

This has been keeping me both busy -- and sane -- for the past four months, although I nearly bailed out from the effort because of the paralyzing bout of depression I plunged into last June. Good thing Ma'am Susan Vista-Suarez (my second mother!) and my friends were there to get me out of the dragon's mouth, just in time for me to buckle down, settle to work, and produce the posters, banners, etc. for the year's slate of cultural shows.

This is my second year as a member of Silliman University's Cultural Affairs Committee, my function mostly in the aesthetic and literary side of marketing. This year, though, I have to admit the new bunch of committee members is more gung-ho, more fun -- and more ambitious than usual. We all gel like there's no tomorrow, and we are all united by our common goal to give culture in Dumaguete City a kick in the ass. The mantra we've adopted for the year goes: "Silliman University Cultural Affairs Committee invites you to a cultural renaissance in Dumaguete City..." That's me being cheeky as usual.

Finally, this year, CAC has come out with a brochure (something people has been demanding for, like forever), complete with the whole line-up of coming shows. (That has never happened before, having a complete line-up that is. The whole operation used to be a hit-and-hopefully-it-will-stick affair, with the CAC approving and staging shows only as they come and go...) We also have a new website, a new project plan... and a grand launching last Monday night.

Here's our invitation for last Monday's soiree...



It was a night borne out of our collective mugna-mugna. We were saying last summer, "Why don't we invite all the society people of Negros Oriental, tell them to dress up to the nines -- in gowns! and suits! -- and ask them to become sponsors for the coming shows?" Which was a considerable thing to ask because long gone were the days when Oriental Negrense society would gather together in their Parisian high couture, for a party, or for a cultural gathering. (Oriental Negros used to be the locus of southern Philippine society, complete with our local girls making their debutante's ball in such hallowed spaces as St. James Court in London. But most -- like the famed Isabel Preysler of Madrid, who's really from Bais -- have gone abroad, and the rest are old and graying...)

But they did come, many of them, all dressed to the hilt, and under the starless skies in the foyer of the Claire Isabel McGill Luce Auditorium, they wined and dined. And for them, we presented the first six shows of the season...













And the rest, including Tanghalang Pilipino's Geegee at Waterina and Welcome to Intelstar, will be coming in the second season.

Reserve your tickets. There are only about a hundred seats left for the entire season.

Labels: art and culture, dumaguete, negros, silliman

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