The OVCRD Report (May 2011-April 2014).2.10.14 | Page 20

UP Diliman

Arts Complex at UP Diliman, a pioneering
attempt by scholars and faculty of six UP
Diliman colleges to create an overview of the
state of the creative and cultural industries in
and around the campus. The collaborating
units are the colleges of Architecture, Arts and
Letters, Fine Arts, Mass Communication and
Music, and the Asian Center. Another initiative
involves the development of guidelines in the
establishment and designation of Tourism
Enterprise Zones and the administration of
incentives under the Tourism Act (R.A. 9593).
At the helm of this project is the Asian Institute
of Tourism, joined by the School of Urban and
Regional Planning, ICE, College of Human
Kinetics, Institute of Environmental Science
and Meteorology, and Cesar E.A. Virata School
of Business.
One example of a collaboration that
encapsulates the convergence of art and science
is the partnership between the College of Fine
Arts (CFA) and the Bonifacio Art Foundation,
Inc. for the creation of the Mind Museum at
Taguig City. The project, whose goal was to
deliver learning in an engaging way, in an
environment that is safe and stimulating, and
within an efficient and sustainable shell,
involved groundbreaking work that straddles
the creative, technical, and scientific domains.
According to CFA Dean Leonardo C. Rosete,
the project is even more meaningful because it
has proven that “local talents and skills could
be the main resource in realizing the creative
component of the [Mind Museum],”
consequently challenging “the practice of
leasing foreign franchises to fill up
exhibition places.”

Paliwanagan has become
“a major event that gathers
together the different
constituents and members
of the University in the spirit
of genuine collegiality,
collaboration, and
community.”
Professor Caesar Saloma,
Chancellor of UP Diliman 2011-2014

Convergences via collaborations with
universities abroad have always been a feature
of R&D in UP Diliman. Paliwanagan
acquainted UP Diliman constituents with
recent examples of this kind of collaboration.
One of these is the study On Escaping the
Middle Income Country Trap (MICT) jointly
implemented by the College of Social Sciences
and Philosophy (CSSP), School of Economics
(SE), and the Erasmus University in
Rotterdam, the Netherlands. In his
presentation during the July 2013 Colloquium,
Dr. Michael L. Tan explained CSSP’s role in
this study, specifically, that of looking at the
qualitative aspects of economic growth and the
middle-income trap through narratives or
stories from key people in firms, households,
and communities in the Calabarzon area. The
broad setting of this study is the analysis of the
trajectory of development in the Philippines
and Thailand over the last three decades.