december-2011

Clockwise from left: Virginia Maja-Stack’s
weekly column chronicles the vibrant local
life; Takeshi Maruyama at work on a sculpure;
resident poet and university professor Cesar
Ruiz Aquino; one of the many murals in
Silliman University.
Artists’ choice
“Dumaguete has become a hub of
artists from all over the country,
perhaps because of the infl uence of
Silliman and other universities that
promote creative and arts opportunities
for students and visitors,” agrees
Virginia Maja-Stack, a balikbayan
retiree who now writes a column for the
Dumaguete Metro Post. “And I certainly
think that it also has something to
do with the people’s attitude here,
[because they are] are open to new
initiatives and creative forms.”
Spend any amount of time in
Dumaguete, and it will be impossible
not to stumble upon the wellsprings
of creativity that run deep in the city.
Dumaguete is still synonymous with
the annual National Writers’ Workshop
that’s been run by Silliman for decades
Spend any amount of time
in Dumaguete, and it will be
impossible not to stumble upon
the wellsprings of creativity that
run deep in the city
now, and which count among its
generations of fellows a great number of
the country’s literary elite. But creativity
in many forms runs rampant. In a
short visit there, I was able to meet a
world-class Japanese ceramic artist,
Takeshi Maruyama — a teacher at
the Foundation University who, with
the help of photographer Hersley Ven
Casero, is putting together a proposal
to install 100 of
{ 162 }
his pieces around
town. I also spoke
to Diane Pool, an
American who
has settled in
the community
of Tambobo
Bay, just outside
Dumaguete, where she has helped
put up a couple of schoolhouses for
the children of Siaton. With some likeminded
friends, she is hoping to turn
part of the foundation’s offi ces into an
artists’ retreat, which will help fund their
work in the schoolhouses.
And there does seem to be a strong
impetus towards connections, both
towards the community in Dumaguete
and outward, drawing people towards
the place. Maja-Stack herself is involved
in a pilot project with New York-based
restaurateur and food writer Amy Besa,
Manila’s Enderun Colleges, and Silliman
University to create community kitchens
to teach nutrition and sustainable eating.
Indeed, this kind of involvement in
community-oriented projects speaks