NCCA defends selection of celebs as art ambassadors
(UPDATE) Hear ye, hear ye critics. The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) explains why it recently tapped showbiz personalities to be their art ambassadors.
The Commission’s public affairs head Rene Napeñas explained that the office chose TV hosts Boy Abunda (Philippine Arts Festival), Leyte Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez (Dance), singers Sarah Geronimo (Music) and Ogie Alcasid (Heritage), TV heartthrobs Piolo Pascual (Culture), Dingdong Dantes (Youth Ambassador for Philippine Arts Festival) and Jericho Rosales (Taoid), as well as beauty queens Shamcey Supsup (Architecture & Allied Arts) and Venus Raj (Dayaw) as ambassadors because they can reach a wider audience.
“We have our artistic teams in the commission which decide the ambassadors... basically to profile or highlight our various celebrations,” he told Yahoo Philippines OMG!
Napeñas added, “We didn't use artsy people to represent or be our ambassadors. We wanted some media magnet for this because they normally get attention.”
“They are expected to advocate and stir everyone's interest in our culture and the arts scene with many fun-filled, exciting, and educational activities particularly in the coming month-long Philippine Arts Festival in February 2014,” the Commission’s Facebook post said.
‘Favored’ ambassadors?
The selection, however, didn’t sit well with many netizens and well respected artists who questioned how these celebrities were tapped to represent various fields of art.
Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra Music Director and Chief Conductor Olivier Ochanine noted on Facebook: “The scary part is that this is not a joke! I don't remember seeing any of these people at the CCP [Cultural Center of the Philippines].”
Napeñas pointed out that NCCA’s choice of popular celebrities as ambassadors since 2009 is a move to get a bigger chunk of Filipinos back into arts.
“Like for example for Philippine Arts Festival, we got Mr. Boy Abunda because of his ability to communicate to Filipinos from all over the globe. “
“We got Dingdong Dantes as our youth ambassador because of his wholesome image as an actor, producer, [and] director as well,” the public affairs head shared.
Boy and Dingdong have been ambassadors since 2009 and the Commission has tapped them in several activities.
Piolo was culture ambassador in 2011.
“He's been helping us for three years now. He's not really very active but he gave us his permission to use his AVP (infomercial) in our collateral for Dayaw,” Napeñas noted.
Dayaw is an annual celebration of indigenous people. The festival will be held in Tacloban City from December 27 to 29.
Meanwhile, the Leyte representative has been tapped because of her track record in the House.
“She used to head the House Committee on Tourism. She paid a visit to our former chairperson, Dr. Vilma Labrador. So that was it. We invited her to become ambassador for dance,” Napeñas explained.
He added, “For this year, 2013, Sarah Geronimo was given the Ani ng Awards during the Arts Month. Hopefully by next year, we will be able to really tap Sarah as our celebrity spokesperson to help us promote the National Arts Month as well.”
No money involved
He dismissed insinuations that these highly-paid celebrities got professional fees for their ambassador role.
“These are all gratis. We never paid any of our ambassadors. Not even a single centavo.”
He added that the nine ambassadors shall assume the position for one year.
“Usually it's coupled with a board resolution which lasts for one year. But if they wish to continue their support to us, then usually we tag them along with our events.”
