IN this day and age of fast-paced modernity, it is vital to preserve and keep the traditions that have stood the test of time. They are the anchor of our identity and the inspiration for what we can be. Among these traditions are our arts and crafts, our music, our rituals, our celebrations. And the artifacts that come with them.

The Philippines has rich traditions and varied expressions for them, particularly among our artists and artisans. These we must preserve and develop, even modernize, as long as they keep the spirit which makes and identifies them. Our varied, colorful and unique indigenous fabrics are clearly part of the traditions handed down to us over time and which we now in the same spirit preserve so as to keep them relevant, meaningful and valued. They must be our legacy, handed down to our progeny and appreciated by the next generations.

In all of the above, government support is vital for their journey into the future, their importance in the present and the respect for the past. And this is particularly essential for the youth who need exposure, experience and integration into our traditions.

At the 8th Asean Traditional Textiles Symposium held September 25-30 in Malaysia, government assistance was underlined by every speaker from every country. Malaysia, the host as represented by Queen Azizah, confirmed the generous and unstinting support of the Malaysian government for their traditional arts and crafts. One of the manifestations of this commitment was the National Craft Institute located in Rawang in Selangor state, about an hour and a half from Kuala Lumpur. Here scholarship students learn from about 30 teachers traditional batikmaking, woodcarving, ceramics, along with painting and drawing and aesthetics. The institute is a true academic institution. It has first-class equipment in large classrooms to fit the spread of batik on tables where images are being done with the appropriate tools, woodcarving utensils for carving pieces and modern ceramic kilns to finish the pottery products. They have a generous campus, dormitories, recreational facilities like tennis courts, an Olympic-size swimming pool and, for a homely touch, wellfed, well-cared-for pet cats. Students are given a stipend of 200 ringgit a month (about $50), are furnished with uniforms and an atmosphere conducive to learning. Indeed, this institution is taxpayers’ money put to good and efficient use. I am by no means advocating a copycat craft institute here simply because at this time, we cannot afford it. However, with the funds already

allocated for art and culture, some assistance should come, particularly for weavers. They need weaving centers, help to acquire looms, workshops in finishing the products available cotton thread at affordable prices. Help from government institutions is not absent but it is piecemeal and does not have an impact. There is a level of inefficiency that must be discarded for more lasting effect.

Furthermore, in Kuala Lumpur, the government has established a large National Crafts Store with every traditional and modern product that their arts and crafts have come up with. So, aside from miles and miles of batik from cloth to ready-to-wear, there is pewter (a signature Malaysian metal), fans, slippers, bags and boxes of every kind, decorative canes, umbrellas, and a variety of jewelry. All by Malaysian artisans and all for sale. What the National Craft Institute produces in artisans, the National Craft Store shows and sells what they make. The synergy is shared with other entrepreneurial elements like fashion designers, individual businesses and the local market itself. It is intertwined with tourism and the partnership is successful with government publicity and assistance. This is efficiency in assistance.

In Indonesia, government technical schools are also into the arts and crafts of the country. They adjusted to the pandemic constraints by whimsically adapting coronavirus images into their batik designs which have found a market. Another Indonesian technical school studied why women leave weaving and knowing why, took steps to keep them happy as weavers as well as encourage youth by providing assistance, new markets through new designs and available color materials that still kept the batik produced within the tradition. In other words, weavers were paid attention to and given assistance. This is grassroots support by being creative and showing it can work.

Weaving communities in Laos are kept strong by market demand that the government helps them meet by providing the necessary means to do so in communities of weavers. Their sales for their silk home decor actually went through the roof during the pandemic with online demand, agents in every large capital of the world and the necessary delivery systems, import needs and other vital aspects for export. Government cooperation here is critical in importing needed materials like equipment and providing the internet connections (through public or private enterprise) as well as looking into village weaving communities that need help, whether in designs or techniques for new products.

In general, government assistance is essential for a nation’s arts and crafts to prosper. Be it training (vocational schools, weaving as part of school curriculum, competitions, opportunities to earn) or helping get export markets as well as encouraging local consumption through underlining identity and ownership.

Another important aspect is research and development of the products that are made by artisans. Through government agencies, we could work at having our piña and abaca fibers made less stiff and more manageable for everyday wear. Or, we could combine them with other material for such. We should be having easy-to-maintain and easy-topurchase abaca stripping machines, for example, in abaca farming and production. It is a matter of study and experimentation whose results may give a boost to the quality of artisanal products. There is more productivity to research and development if done assiduously and perspicaciously. And ultimately all the finds, successful experiments, new techniques should be shared with the communities that could gainsay from them. In other words, let researchers not live in an ivory tower but come down and share what improvements their work can give to artisans. Again, it is a matter of going down to the grassroots, where artisanal work is going on.

Our government seems willing to help arts and crafts but so far it has been a scattershot attempt that lacks focus. It is time to centralize or organize nationally with a wellthought-out program to follow. This is not to mean yet another office or agency, or heaven forbid, another building erected without planning its efficient use. Government assistance just needs a re-focus and when done, a reorganization of the existing cultural agencies, putting the activities in the right places and in so doing streamline the support in an effective manner. I repeat, it must go down to the grassroots where it is needed most. And it must be efficient. Once there is a mandate and its meticulous implementation, local governments, local communities, even individuals, can be part of it, all of them together, giving the assistance where it is needed for the better health and future of our arts and crafts.