Culture, Art & Design: Engines for our Post-Pandemic Economy

Culture, Art & Design:
Engines for our Post-Pandemic Economy

Creatives from the Philippines and Hawaii share their art and their vision of how our world and community can be inspired through art. Most are not focused on one medium but on all media forms—including objects, apparel, accessories and installation art that can communicate their vision for a better tomorrow.

Join us via Zoom

Thursday, Aug. 5, 2021 • 4 p.m. Hawaii
Friday, Aug 6, 2021 • 10 a.m. Philippines
Event will also be streamed live via Facebook.
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Speakers:

𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗔 𝗡𝗔𝗭𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗢, is an Emmy-Award winning television creative producer whose shift to design is a product of passions and family ties. She is the creative director of ZACARIAS 1925, a brand of hand-woven bags and home accessories that places a contemporary thrust in the traditional craft of hand-weaving, referencing contemporary art, architecture and cinema. She is also Creative Director of Nazareno/Lichauco a collaboration with Gabby Lichauco that continue to work on design exhibits by CITEM/Design Philippines showcasing the best creative works of the Philippines in exhibitions in Paris and Milan.

𝗔𝗥𝗧 𝗧𝗜𝗕𝗔𝗟𝗗𝗢 is a multi-media artist. As a photojournalist, he has produced award winning short films and documentaries and produces a weekly cable TV program in Baguio City and is a part-time instructor in journalism at the University of Cordilleras. He was an East West Center artist-in-residence in 2006 and exhibited a few of his works while in Hawaii. He is part of Creative Baguio’s arts and culture committee and as an environmentalist, he is active in the Baguio Regreening Movement and Alay sa Kalinisan. As a hobby, he maintains a small media museum that houses his collection of obsolete and dated media equipment.

𝗜𝗦𝗔𝗕𝗘𝗟 𝗦𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗧 is one of the two principal creatives of TOQA, the creator of the Sport Resort aesthetic: a multifunctional aesthetic bridge between activewear and resortwear. It is tropical in origin, sustainable in practice, suitable from bedroom to beach to Zoom boardroom. It is a modern representation of the island identity and is a futuristic embodiment of contemporary tropical art in fashion, founded to redefine the singular stereotype of a lei-laden islander. Its production HQ is in the Philippines, with a secondary design studio in Hawaii. TOQA collaborates with artists to foster an international community. Sustainability also accounts for the wider impact of its work and as such, emphasizes the use of deadstock and recycled fabrics in its products.

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗟𝗘𝗦 𝗩𝗔𝗟𝗢𝗥𝗢𝗦𝗢, a longtime mainstay of Hawaii’s art world, is getting more recognition for his impact on the industry. He has been on the U.S. Mainland for many years but has come home recently and opened a show with Doug Young at The Gallery at Ward Centre. Valoroso, like Young, are photo-realists, a genre of artists who create paintings based on photos—but look better than the photos. Valoroso, who is originally from Kauai, is well-known for his paintings of aloha shirts. In the late 1990s, Charles and other artists formed a collaborative comprised of creatives of Filipino descent called “Kayumanggi Presence.” The group mounted several exhibitions, one of which was at the East West Center gallery and also issued and published a brochure with the same title.

𝗔𝗡𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗔 𝗕𝗨𝗥𝗚𝗢𝗦 will moderate the forum. An anchor with KITV-4, she has 20 years of experience in television in nearly a dozen cities across the US and Asia, most recently Manila. While in the Philippines, she was anchor/managing editor at the ABS-CBN News Channel (broadcast internationally under The Filipino Channel) and led U.S. and global news coverage for the morning newscasts. She also hosted and produced a popular “Food Diplomacy” segment, where she talked politics and culture with diplomats from across the world. Prior to that, she was an anchor/ correspondent for Channel NewsAsia, an international news channel based in Singapore, and hosted "What's Cooking,” a weekly food and travel show.

This event is part of a monthly series called Talk Story Sessions leading up to the Aloha & Mabuhay Conference on Oct. 13 and 14, 2021.

Organized for charitable and educational purposes, the HPBEC facilitates the exchange of information and direction between Hawaii and the Philippines to strengthen its business and economic development links.

We advocate for, and on behalf of, residents who consider both Hawaii and the Philippines as home.