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Philippine Advocacy Through
Arts and Culture (PATAC)
By Paulina Corpuz
Philippine Advocacy Through
Arts and Culture (PATAC) based in Toronto, Ontario, is an organization
of volunteer Filipino artists and concerned citizens who envision
a future where each person's right is respected and upheld.
PATAC's mission is encapsulated
in the PEACE PACT. It means to Promote, Educate, and Affect Change
by Engaging People to Act as a Community for Transformation through
various arts media. Art is a potent instrument in reaching out
and inspiring people to act and change their life and their world.
PATAC strives to promote the
Philippines, its people, culture and struggles through music,
photography, spoken word, print and other artistic media. The
name PATAC was chosen, an anglicized spelling of the Filipino
word 'patak' because it reflects the basic Filipino principle
of coming together as a community with each individual contributing
within their means, to create something bigger than ourselves,
a modern version of "bayanihan", a true Filipino trait.
PATAC's arts and culture work
presents the Philippine history and reality in creative multimedia
forms such as song, dance, visual art, photography, spoken word
and the like. PATAC's work is best reflected in the following
projects:
'Touch a Life and Help a Soul
campaign' presented through a photo exhibit and music, focused
on migrants' experiences, peace, human rights and hopes of a
future that is not marred with injustice and violence.
The annual September, 'An evening
of peace and music', is similar to the remembrance day event
here in North America. PATAC strives to keep people aware and
to not forget what happened in the Martial Law years in the Philippines.
We must always be vigilant in upholding the rights of the Filipino
people and ensuring that greed and power do not prevail in the
Philippine society.
'Her name is Grecil' campaign
raised funds for a fact-finding mission on the issue of the military
strategy that accused children killed in the crossfire of being
child soldiers.
'Mine, Mine, Mine' is a concert
and photo exhibit that focused on the effects on mining in the
Philippines by Canadian-based companies.
Literary contests engage young
people of Filipino descent in identifying and articulating the
challenges they face as visible youth minority in relation to
their immigration, settlement and development as young Filipino
Canadians; get their insight on how to best deal with these issues;
consolidate their perspective and anecdotal experiences and compile
it into a literary work; enhance their writing skills; and promote
the youth of Filipino-descent as literary artists.
As Jay Castillo said in his academic paper titled, "Every
Drop Counts: Social Movements and Music- An analysis of PATAC
- Philippine Advocacy Through Arts and Culture,"
"PATAC is able to creatively use art and music to question
the taken-for-granted norms that hide injustice and human rights
violations. By thickly describing, story-telling and taking into
account multiple voices, PATAC is able to use music in order
to build a 'common experience.' PATAC mobilizes people around
their music and they are able to engage others to understand
the larger issues that are affecting Filipinos and Filipino-Canadians."
PATAC will continue to do its
work to tell the real Filipino story through various arts and
cultural media, reach out, raise awareness and encourage people
to participate in transforming their lives and live in a society
of genuine freedom and peace.
For more information and statistics,
please visit: www.patac.org
PATAC Brochure (PDF File / Acrbat Reader
required / 111KB)
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The project was made
possible with the support of the
Department
of Canadian Heritage through the Canadian Culture Online Strategy
The Acrobat Reader
is available free from 