IN EQUILIBRIUM
CANVAS’ journey since its birth in 2005 has so far spawned 35 titles, thousands of artworks by hundreds of artists, and hundreds of thousands of books given to children in countless schools, hospitals and communities all over the country.
We also built a park in Palawan, joined a global movement to share ideas worth spreading, commissioned socially relevant public art projects and exhibitions, and institutionalized an annual artist in residence program.
We are proud of what we’ve built, and even more so of the team – the CANVAS family– and culture that made all these successes and dreams possible.
Memories
But now, our dreams have grown even bigger, and more complex. We still want to give away a million books, but we also want to measurably demonstrate their impact. We want children to learn to read and to love books, but more than that, we want to provide them with opportunities to grow creatively as well. It is this expanded mission that is driving us to build our Children’s Museum of Philippine Art: Tumba-Tumba, as well as to make our books and exhibitions more interactive.
Pursuing these dreams requires us to change.How we ran CANVAS as a start-up is no longer compatible with our desire and capacity for growth and greater impact.
With maturity as an organization comes the need to institutionalize formal governance systems, and set protocols and procedures. We have to, and are recruiting more people to help us communicate and fundraise. We are committing ourselves to greater transparency and accountability.
We will not allow these changes to affect our commitment to our principles. But, we know that they will change who we are, and how we do what we do.
In this sense then, change is both our challenge and calling. We seek to both create and adapt to it. We embrace it because we find our balance in change.
two dreams and one tribute
1 Million Books for 1 Million Children
A Vision for a Museum
A Storyteller By Design