Last 24th of October, I received an invite to attend the Fourth International Conference on Cultural Statistics and Creative Economy organized by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts in cooperation with Unesco.
It is when the respective indicators are sampled that we realize how amazing and formidable this project is. For expenditure on heritage, the explanation points to, as an example, “total expenditure per capita spent on the preservation, protection and conservation of all cultural and natural heritage.” What makes this aspect creatively efficient is that all municipalities and cities profess to have a real understanding of culture and how it works to help in the development of a place.
On a recent visit to Tagum, where I conducted a workshop on film education, I was brought to the upper portion of the city’s cultural center and was amazed to see the entire floor devoted to a library. This is exemplary. Then come the observation and the measurement, and the counting. Examine the names of those people coming to the library. Disaggregate them according to age and gender, and include the organization.
Imagine at this moment our politician’s propensity to build structures that are so multi-purposed one has difficulty finding the purpose for that space. Sometimes, this is not the issue of space but the distortion of space. In Camarines Sur, a church in Bombon known for its leaning belfry is covered entirely by, yes, a multipurpose hall.