CCP to digitize national artists’ immortal works

[sociallocker]

MANILA, Philippines—Works and performances of Filipino artists Lucresia Kasilag, Nicanor Abelardo, Atang dela Rama, Leonor Orosa Conquingco, Nick Joaquin, Jose Garcia Villa and Cecile Licad will be given “new lease on existence” through digitization, preserving these vital creations for future generations.

Officials of the Cultural Center of the Philippines say the digitization program is the initial stage of a three-year program that will make the contents of the CCP Library—which include thousands of cultural and historical works collected for 42 years—accessible to the online public, much like a virtual library.

These include performances stored on video and audio tapes.

CCP’s digitization project, which was made possible by information infrastructure solution provider EMC Corp., involves the storing, protecting, managing and making accessible CCP’s vast collection of national, cultural and historical materials.

These materials consists of approximately 40,000 hours of audio recordings, 30,000 hours of tapes from its film archive, 6,500 photos, 28,000 photographic slides, and at least 56,000 literary manuscripts.

Under the program, thousands of art and historical pieces will also be digitally captured for future content migration.

“Poetry, film, music, visual art and expressions of humanity are all part of a country’s national, cultural and historical heritage, and yet many of these critical documents and cultural artifacts are at risk of disappearing without the right information infrastructure systems,” says David Webster, president of EMC in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

EMC offers its expertise in processing and storing information through its various products and technologies.

The company also trained the CCP staff tasked with the digitization project.

“It has been a rewarding challenge to help CCP create a virtual and interactive environment to make information on Philippines’ rich cultural past available and accessible to everyone,” says EMC country manager Ronnie Latinazo. “This is EMC’s way of giving back to the community after having operated in the Philippines for the past 10 years.”

CCP president Raul Sunico says the digitization project will not only preserve the valuable treasures of CCP, but also enhance the services of the organization, which has been a resource center for students, faculty members, and arts and culture lovers. [/sociallocker]