Historical and Cultural Preservation
The arts are an essential component of a healthy and democratic society, contributing to the intellectual capital and economic vitality of our communities as well as our understanding of human experience.
Vibal Foundation works to strengthen historical and cultural awareness to enable Filipinos to express cultural values and perspectives more powerfully in a globalized world.
We support projects that foster the creation and sharing of the arts as well as the documentation, preservation, and revitalization of traditional creative forms. With our growing collection of Philippine books and artifacts, we are also positioned to document, analyze, and present Philippine history, art and culture to a modern and wired readership.
- Through its publishing division Vibal Press, the Foundation produces books that are of the highest quality in terms of scholarship, content, and design. These books gather the knowledge of foremost experts on Philippine art, culture and history, and showcase the life and work of contemporary artists in various media. Vibal Press also reissues invaluable out-of-print classics in updated and attractive editions. In this way, the Foundation aims to create a broad audience for Philippine studies and a deeper appreciation of what the Filipino is capable of.
Our books will also be accessible in multiformat product releases as we create new ways to access and use our content, actively promoting a range of titles in ebook format available on digital readers and mobile Internet devices.
- Audio Filipino is a comprehensive collection of audio recordings documenting the Filipino experience. The collection includes thousands of recordings from every region and every genre of spoken word and music: songs, speeches, tales, biographical narrative, radio broadcasts, poetry, epic, folklore—providing a documentary aural history of the Philippines from the early twentieth century to the present. The collection is accompanied by the written and photographic documentation that goes with the recordings.
- Museo-Aklatan ng Impreso at Awit (MAIA) is envisioned to be the first library and museum of popular culture in the Philippines. While it will contain a major selection of rare Filipiniana, MAIA’s key collections will include komiks, novels written in different Philippine vernacular languages, audio recordings, and other artifacts of Philippine popular culture, music, literature, and art.
- Local Arts and History Initiative (LAHI) is premised on the belief that local people are well qualified to identify the heritage of their local area and determine what is valuable to them. Experts can advise on what is of historic and cultural importance and assist in sourcing information and providing technical advice, but local communities are in a position to make decisions about what is of local significance and how it could be safeguarded in the future. LAHI aims to take a holistic view to encourage a convergence of nature and culture, people and place, and of the past and future.
- Arts Education. The Foundation sponsors workshops and symposia in museums and schools to encourage the appreciation and understanding of Philippine art, and its history, context, and meaning, in conjunction with the publication of our Arte Filipino books.
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