Inspiring outreach to young Fil-Cans

Inspiring outreach to young Fil-Cans

By Dyan Ruiz

Mary Ward students creating the banig. PHOTO: MELVIN BILBAO

Filipino art forms, cultural pride and tackling tough issues were the hallmarks of arts-based outreach to elementary and high school aged Filipino-Canadian students conducted in a pilot program this Spring.

Artists from the Kapisanan Philippine Centre for Arts & Culture led workshops for students in two high schools and an elementary school in Scarborough. They incorporated Filipino art forms, such as banig-making (weaving a mat using strips), to inspire cultural pride and unique forms of expression in the students.

The workshops were conducted in schools where there is a large population of Filipino-Canadian students. For instance, of Mary Ward Secondary School’s approximately 1200 students, one of the school’s art teachers, Marissa Largo, estimates that at least half of them are Filipino. And given its location just south of Pacific Mall, most of the students are Asian.

Each outreach session not only taught Filipino art techniques, the classes were also deliberately designed to help the students with issues that are particularly felt by young Filipino-Canadians. These include family separation, homesickness or a lack of connection to their heritage while in growing up in Canada.

One of the facilitators, Tim Manalo, recalls the sharing session that was part of the workshops at Mary Ward. The students were asked to bring objects that represent their past, present and future. He said, “It was touching because for their past the students would bring their Philippine passports that they used to get into Canada, the present was represented by their student ID at Mary Ward, and their future was their Permanent Resident certificate.”

“They would say, ‘This is my future because it’s my future to be a Canadian citizen,’” said Manalo.

Grade 12 student and program participant, Jercy David, holds up the agenda she designed for Mary Ward in front of her other works.

Grade 12 student at Mary Ward, Jercy David, said “I was really surprised to hear that there were a lot of stories like mine– hearing that there were a lot of students who immigrated to Canada later in life. Most of the people I talked to came here when they were one or two, or were born here. So it was nice to know there were other people like me.”

Coordinator of the outreach program, Nicole Cajucom, said one of the things Kapisanan wanted to do with each session is target issues specific to the needs of the school based on intake forms teachers filled out.

“Art is a good way for anyone to deal with strong emotions in an indirect way and talk about things that may not be fun to talk about,” said Cajucom. For instance family separation was an issue in St. Paschal Baylon where many of the grade 8 students arrived just months or weeks ago.

Family separation is common among Filipinos immigrating to Canada because of a parent immigrating through the Live-in Caregiver Program that disallows family sponsorship until work requirements are complete. Or a parent might move to Canada alone to establish him or herself before sponsoring their family. Some of the children also talked about how their parents were often working.

In order to help address their issues, the students were asked to do Balagtasan, a form of Filipino poetry where one engages in debate through verse. Here the students were asked to do role-playing where one side plays the parent and the other side is the child. In this way, the students expressed their feelings and imagined how their parents feel.

From left: Program facilitators Tim Manalo and Kristina Guison, student Jercy David, and Kapisanan staff Kat Estacio and Nicole Cajucom in front of banig. 2 PHOTOS: Dyan Ruiz

The students at Mary Ward created a large banig (woven mat) that was displayed at the huge annual, week-long art exhibit held on May 6 to 10, 2013. Working with the theme of the art show, Conundrum, Kapisanan artist Kristina Guison asked the students to explore how they deal with multiple identities– moving from one place to another.

The students were asked to paint two sides of a canvas, where one side addressed the conundrum of being Filipino and Canadian. The second side was adorned with personal secrets revealed through metaphors and symbols. The canvases were cut and woven into a colorful banig that was approximately 12 ft by 12 ft in size.

One student painted a carabao (Filipino oxen) showing his life in the province before moving to Canada from the Philippines. “Now he’s here at Mary Ward and all the opportunities that can open,” Manalo said.

Mary Ward is widely regarded as a prestigious school and has an exceptionally large and well-resourced art program. Works on display at the art show included floor to ceiling sculptures, fashion, digital storybooks and paintings all created and designed by the students.
Mary Ward is a self-directed school where students can develop their own schedule completing units in their courses an average of one every two weeks. Students can spend all day in a particular class to work on a large project. Therefore, the Kapisanan facilitators were able to lead two sessions that lasted all day and included students of all grade levels at the high school.

Mary Ward students participating in the arts-based workshop. PHOTO: MELVIN BILBAO

Largo said, the program “uniquely explores Filipino themes through a Filipino medium.” Having Kapisanan there was important in having the students be exposed to Filipino content that they otherwise might not have because having such content is not required and is up to the discretion of the teacher. Largo is only one of two Filipino-Canadian teachers at Mary Ward, despite the large population of Filipino students.

Cajucom said that part of what motivates her work as the program’s coordinator is her experience as a second generation Filipino. “I had very little exposure to my own culture,” she said. “We want them to stay connected to their roots, otherwise they wouldn’t have any access to that.”

Workshops were also conducted with grade 10 students at Winston Churchill Collegiate Institute. They were led by Guison, Manalo and Marc Alonzo.

When asked whether the program will become an ongoing endeavor by Kapisanan, Cajucom said that they hope that they will have a full-fledged program by the Fall.

“We definitely will continue. Based on the pilot program, we’ve received a lot of inquiries about Kapisanan and what we can offer in the schools. We’ve had many settlement workers both from the Catholic and public school boards to ask us to come in,” she said.

The sessions also exposed the students to role models they can look up to as they embark on their careers. David said the sessions were exciting for her because she did not realize that there are so many Filipinos within the art industry. She said traditional Filipino parents want their kids to go into Sciences and Business and it was inspiring to see other young Filipinos entering the arts. David plans to be a graphic artist or journalist and designed this year’s agenda for Mary Ward.

Mary Ward students creating the banig

3 PHOTOS: KevinVinzon