In the coming year, you may be invited or sold a ticket to any of over a hundred different functions or events happening for whatever reason.  Some may be simple get-togethers, some will be genuinely in the name of charity, some will flame our patriotic senses but some will definitely be for profit and some will be for profit disguised as charity. 

Organisers will go on overdrive as they scamper around in search of a venue, check menus, invite guests, peddle tickets and plan their outfits for that ‘beso-beso’ event.  But at the core of each of these functions will be the artists and entertainers, the most essential ingredients of any event and yet the most taken for granted.  

These special breed are usually last on the list of things to do and it is usually a case of gratis et amore. The head hunters on the prowl are good at spotting talent and the proverbial ‘pakis’ (favor) come into play. They’ll go around the bend …and again, the ‘kakilala system’ will prevail.  Name a price and they’re rocked out of their wits with comments like:  “What…may bayad?  Ay naku, walang budget eh.  Discount naman.”  (What there’s payment? No budget.  Discount please!) And yet people will not blink at a solicitor’s price of over a hundred dollars to produce a power of attorney which simply fit into a template and would take less than half an hour to draft. 

As the battle ensues for who sits where, title holders are given the best seats in the house of course while those who worked their butts on and off the stage are relegated somewhere in the shadows.  Let’s not forget that they probably had to struggle for a ticket too.

The ultimate goal is to scrimp and save every which way they can and eradicate quality.  What quality and I guess it depends on whose definition of quality? After all the bigger the amount they are able to collect and hand over to whoever, means the better they look.  The credit goes to the organizers at the end while the artists and entertainers slip into oblivion until summoned the next time around.

The community has a way of ignoring the creative and the talented – the writers, designers, artists, singers, dancers and all those on and off the stage who help put the pizzazz in any event. And by that I mean the real creative and the genuine talent.  And in this regard. extreme caution is a must, for there are pretenders in our midst who master the art of faking it and aren’t worth our ten cents but manage to rope in an audience.

No one takes into consideration the amount of discipline and countless hours of training the gifted have had to pour in for years to perfect a move, hit a note and master their craft and let’s not forget the parents’ tuition.  Neither do people realize the hours of practice prior to every performance nor the courage that these people have in weathering the ups and downs of an ever fickle industry.

Rather than nurturing the real creative and talented, they are used and exploited for someone else’s gain. 

Worst is the inability to differentiate between the good, the bad, and the ugly – excellent and mediocrity– the professional and the novice – which is by far the most insulting.  This also means that the community is deprived of the real talent for sooner or later, the good ones slip away into greener pastures leaving us once again with the wannabes.

So will those with real talent please stand up and take a bow.  You absolutely deserve it!

May I take this opportunity to greet all my readers a happy new year. It’s the year of the dragon – Roar!