A self-sustaining, collaborative communal enterprise—that’s how the residents of Alitaptap Artist Community describe their home.
In a sprawling 12-hectare mixed-use land, artists convene to create, trade, do business, entertain, learn and co-exist.
Henry “Bokeng” Ancanan, the commune leader and Alitaptap Artists Community president, shares the struggle, joys and adventure transient artists experience through-out their stay in the community and how they migrated from other parts of the county to form a collective of like-minded people.
“Ours is a community within a ommunity. Local artists have gathered here to learn from each other and share their arts and knowledge to the entire commune. Some have learned to love the countryside and decided to stay here for good, while others visit to refresh their mind and body, hoping to spur a new wave of artistic ideas.
Still, others are here to learn more and perfect their crafts,” he said.
Alitaptap Artist Community is an iconic collective in the small community of Barangay Halang in Amadeo, Cavite where Ancanan grew up.
The community, created in 2018, is a collaborative idea of Ancanan and long time friend, painter and sculptor Adrian “AJ” Manuel. Most of the resident artists offer residency art courses, where the students are allowed to stay within the community to learn the craft while dealing with life in a commune set-up.
At the heart of the community, despite individual spaces, is sustainability. No trees or plants that were harmed in the development of the community. An annual clean-up drive sustains the ecological balance and maintains the pristine nature of a river passing within the commune.
Ancanan, who is one of the biggest stakeholders in the community with over 2 hectares landholding, is a proud mixed media painter and installation artist who has been active in the art scene for over 30 years. His wife Cristy is also a painter and a potter. Their children Pula, Bayan and Malaya are also budding artists and musician.
The community started on barely 3 or 4 hectares of land, half of which is Ancanan’s inheritance from his parents. The first few hectares bought through shared capital from artist friends were subdivided into lots for resident artists.
Visiting artist friends who came to love the place started buying adjacent lots as a recreation and relaxation space and many have decided to stay for good. Uprooting their families from their hometowns was a tough decision but it was even tougher to resist the call of nature.
Each resident artist owns at least 1,000 sqm of land which also serves as a personal art space. Some own half a hectare, others have more than 1 or two hectares. Since 2018, there are more than 25 residential structures in the community with over 40 artists residing in the area.
Artists from Manila and from as far as Baguio and Cebu, have sought lifelong refuge in Alitaptap. While some are painters, sculptors, musicians and a few are art performers, they are all entrepreneurs selling crops and crafts. Some artists even came from Angono, Rizal, the art capital of the Philippines.
“It’s no mystery they like it here, especially the artists from Cebu. The community’s closeness to Manila, where the major art scene is, must have convinced a good many of them to settle in this community,” Ancanan said.
“While we have our own spaces here, we do have common activities. The entire year is filled with monthly campaigns and projects that serve as outlet for the collective. Some of these activities are entrepreneurial, others are recreational and educational,” he added.
Every year, the community is encouraged to observe a year-starter event that involves tree planting and mural making in the month of January. During February is the community’s biggest event which is the art camp. March is a women’s group activity while April is a medical mission month dubbed as “Sining Gamutan”. May features “Arte de May”, a representation parade of artistic works.
The months of June, July and August are devoted to farming and catching up with unfinished art works. September is a month of concerts. Come October is the community’s founding month celebrated through a string of festivities. November and December are preparation months for the annual gift-giving activity for the elders and the young kids below 12 years old, in the bigger community outside Alitaptap.
Art Camp
February is arts month in the Philippines and the most exciting month for the Alitaptap Artist Community.
This February 21 to 25, 2023, the community is organizing one of the country’s biggest art camp. The annual Pilipinas Art Camp carrying the theme “Pista ng Sining” is a community initiative in collaboration with the Provincial Government of Cavite.
“This is not the first art camp in the Philippines, but surely this is one of the biggest, so far,” Ancanan said.
About 150 artists from Northern Luzon will set camp inside the community throughout the event. Some 200 guests, on day tour, are also expected to further populate the community during the event.
The art camp is a venue for local artists to get together, showcase their craft and make a sale or two. Big arts collectors are expected to drop in along with the multitude of visitors from all over the country.
Among the highlights of the art fest are art exhibits, art demo, art talks, acting workshop, outdoor painting sessions, a painting contest open to all high school students in Cavite, and on the culminating day, a 7-hour concert featuring local sounds by alternative musicians Joey Ayala, Lolita Carbon and the Wuds, and a queue of bands and performances.
“For the upkeep of the place, we will be charging P50 for every delegate and visitor who are joining the festivities and P100 for the concert. They are free to roam around. There are many studios scattered within the community that they can check out. They can also visit the riverside but swimming is prohibited ,” Ancanan advised.
OtHe added that the organizers will ensure that an art piece will be installed in every turn or in every corner of the streets to make the event more festive and artsy.
Alitaptap Art Cafe
One of the recent structural developments in the community is the Alitaptap Art Cafe. It is a hip cafe serving snacks from breads to pastries and pastas and all-day breakfast fares paired with hot and cold beverages.
The establishment is a family business, ran and owned by Anacay. His second child, Bayan, manages the business.
Enveloped by aromatic herbs and a dense foliage of fruit bearing trees like coconut and bananas, the cafe exudes a rustic and country vibe, a visual celebration of the senses foreign to the urbanites. Visitors get easily addicted to the ambience of cool breeze and the mind-enriching vista of varied art forms that adorn the walls and every nook and cranny of the cafe.
Anacay, who has never even served coffee to visitors, was the one who single-handedly visualized and supervised the creation of the coffee shop.
“It is still a work in progress. We’re still trying to work out a few major details like the flooring. As it is, we keep on adding bits and pieces we think will give the place a unique but welcoming look,” he added.
But visitors found the rawness, the imperfection of the structure to emit a certain charm that is familiar yet calming.
While still in construction after a year and half, the cafe opened in March 2022 to offer not only physical sustenance but a sanctuary for people raring to have a day to pacify their souls and nourish their own personal space.
The cafe is a microcosm of the country’s alternative art scene. Joey Ayala and several of the country’s folk bands led the soft opening of the place.
The cafe also serves as venue for yoga and ayahuasca sessions on top of being a choice venue for intimate events.
