
Ernest Escaler, Josie Natori, two movers behind ACC Philippines Foundation that aims to raise PhP250M endowment fund for 2025

National Artist Alice Reyes, in closing remarks, recalls how life-changing the 1965 grant was for her, driving her to go back to her roots in folk dance and later to develop a body of work that grew the dance audience in the country.
“Pinaiyak mo ko,” in jest, the First Lady Lisa Araneta-Marcos told Gino Gonzales after Gonzales’ speech made many guests tear up at a small dinner celebrating the 24th anniversary of the Asian Cultural Council (ACC) Philippines Foundation Inc. The Foundation is the Philippine presence of the Asian Cultural Council, whose cultural exchange forerunner was founded in 1963 by philanthropist John D. Rockefeller III in New York to nurture the learning and exchange of different cultures and art forms between the US and Asia.

The First Lady Lisa Araneta-Marcos with Josie Natori and Gino Gonzales
In very vivid, heartfelt recollection, Gonzales said how, without the support of ACC, he wouldn’t have come this far. A recent recipient of the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining 2024—the youngest awardee of this batch—Gonzales is hailed as the Philippines’ foremost scenographer/production designer today. He was a recipient of the ACC grant in 1998-2000 in New York, which he considers the most significant seminal years in his evolution as an artist.
Stealing a glance at Josie Natori seated not far from the stage where he stood, Gonzales caught her teary-eyed, and he himself tried to fight back the tears as he revived the memory: “As I look back at the late 1990s… I realize how truly blessed I was to be supported wholeheartedly in my dream… through the generosity of a person, who didn’t know me at all. Maraming salamat, Josie Natori, none of this would have ever happened if you didn’t take a leap of faith….”
Related stories:
The provocation that is Gino Gonzales
Asian Cultural Council: The impossible dream made possible
Natori, then already a global name in fashion and retail, is the chairperson of the board of trustees of the Asian Cultural Council, and has been behind ACC since its inception to help select and choose Filipino artists who would benefit from the support of ACC through formal training abroad, interaction with artists from the world over, and exposure to the world at large, specially but not limited to New York. Gonzales, in an earlier interview with TheDiarist.ph, said he found his native milieu in New York. There has been no better record of the achievements of ACC through the six decades than the recipient Filipino artists themselves, led by the great Filipino musician Jose Maceda, National Artist (Visual Arts) Jose Joya, National Artist (Dance) Alice Reyes, who gave the evening’s closing remarks. Apart from these National Artists, the other ACC grantee artists have helped shape Philippine culture and the arts.

ACC Philippine Foundation dinner at glass house of the Goldenberg Mansion
Gathered in the private dinner last November 12 in the picturesque glass hall of the elegant Goldenberg Museum in San Miguel, Manila, were the major supporters and supporters of the ACC Philippines Foundation. It was hosted by the First Lady herself who stayed even way after the dinner and program to mingle with guests.
In his welcoming remarks, Ernest Escaler, the chairman of the ACC Philippines Foundation and member of the ACC board of trustees, thanked the First Lady for the great strides she has made in arts and culture in such a short time, led by her restoration of the heritage and ancestral mansions around Malacanang, which can now be used for official and private functions. Escaler and later Natori also announced the ambitious goal the Foundation has set for 2025—to raise about PhP250 million endowment fund for more grants to be given the Filipino artists and culture workers.
2019 ACC grantee Carole Duque, now a curator at National Museum, shared in a speech how ACC changed her life: “I was able to work with the best minds at the Smithsonian Institution, interned at anthropology departments, and saw over 70 museums in the US, gaining knowledge and ideas I had no access to before.”
In her closing remarks, National Artist Alice Reyes recalled her own pivotal year, 1965, when she received the grant to pursue her Masters in Dance, and to come under the tutelage of Bessie Schonberg of Sarah Lawrence College, the name behind the prestigious Bessie Awards—“the Oscars of dance,” Reyes said.
Paying tribute to the mentors she had the privilege to learn from through the grant, she said: “They opened the doors to students and dance aficionados and showed us past landscapes of choreography, brilliant production designs and fantastic dancing.”
Most important, she stressed how this learning drove her to go back and dig deep into her roots: “All this inspired me to dig deeply in my folk dancing background and journey towards new directions.”
How can one forget the milestone works of Reyes that helped grow the dance audience in the country down the decades, such as Itim Asu, Tales of the Manuvu, Rama Hari. Rama Hari has just had a Visayas tour that connected it to the millennial and GenZ generations.

Philip and Ching Cruz, who support the Foundation and help out behind the scenes

Fernando and Kit Zobel at the dinner

Sabine and Bettina Aboitiz

Sofia Zobel Elizalde and Anton Mendoza

Josie Natori with Dr. Vicki Belo and Dr. Hayden Kho

Josie Natori with Bianca Zobel (seated, left), Bettina Aboitiz (seated, right) and Dina Tantoco
Gonzales concluded his remarks with a powerful exhortation: “…. And to all our potential donors, I urge you to take the risk.
Send one artist. Who knows… what he or she can contribute back to our nation?”
Excerpts from Gonzales’ speech:
“The 1990s was a very crucial decade in my pursuit of a dream, which I am now living….
I took an offer from a former professor, Mr. Salvador Bernal. “Badong” took me in as his assistant, and my first project under him was the musicale, Alikabok. I helped organize his costume shop in Cubao, coordinated with seamstresses and prop-makers, arranged fittings for performers, purchased fabrics in Divisoria, and tidied things up after each day. I also served as a buffer between Badong’s legendary temper and the rest of the world. It was a far cry from the corporate life in Makati, and contrary to popular belief… it was not at all glamorous.
But I was happy.
For nearly two years of that apprenticeship with Badong… who would later become our National Artists for Theater and Design, I learned a lot of things that were not taught in school. Theater Design was a very specialized field, and there were also few practitioners, who were willing to pass on the craft to a new generation.
At some point, Badong told me that he had already taught me whatever he could share, and it was time for me to pursue further studies abroad. He introduced me to his former apprentice, Toto Sicangco, a renowned Filipino set and costume designer based in New York, who also happened to be a teacher at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Toto looked at me derisively during a visit to Manila, and declared “NO, you’re still a baby. Get some more experience and come back to me after two years.”
And so after two years of working in small productions for the Cultural Center of the Philippines and other theater companies, I took a leap of faith. I applied at Tisch for its Master’s in Fine Arts program and a Fulbright scholarship. I was accepted at Tisch and Fulbright agreed to finance most of the tuition. I begged my parents, who agreed to support me however they could, and I looked at my measly savings account, toiled from miserable fees from theater projects. The sum was still not enough for a three-year course, art materials, and the living expenses in New York City, which was then the center of the universe.
It was for this reason that my friend Tess Rances advised me to apply for an Asian Cultural Council Grant. The ACC miraculously agreed to cover my living expenses.
In 1998, I was off to New York to fulfill a dream. And for the next two years, the ACC decided to continue its annual support… which went beyond finances. Living in New York was exhilarating, but it was also very challenging especially during my initial months.
The people in the ACC practically stood in as a foster family
The people in the ACC practically stoodinasafosterfamily.Iwillneverforget the warmth and kindness of Ralph Samuelson and Cecily Cook. They were always at the ready to redeem me from impossible scenarios, including the time my campus housing reservation was cancelled, and the threat of living in the streets of New York was so real.
The ACC also kept me abreast of what was happening in the city, and gave many opportunities to see opera, ballet, and theater which were not always accessible with a student budget. It also created a network among grantees, which allowed me to meet other artists in Asia. This international network would later pave the way for me to work in many productions in Singapore, Taiwan, and Japan.
As I look back on the late 1990s, I realize how truly blessed I was to be supported wholeheartedly in my dream… through the generosity of a person, who didn’t know me at all. Maraming salamat, Josie Natori, none of this would have ever happened if you didn’t take a leap of faith.
By helping me back in 1998 to 2001, and by extension, you continue to bless all the people, who see my work onstage, in film, and television. You bless all the museum visitors in Manila, Davao, Ormoc, and Cebu, who experience the exhibits I’ve designed. You bless students all over the country, who sit in my classrooms and traveling workshops… the apprentices, who learn this specialized discipline under my tutelage… You bless all the young fashion designers learning the process of making a terno. And you bless an entire nation that has rediscovered the terno through programs like Ternocon. By helping one person, you’ve helped an entire community.
It’s quite understandable that funding for the Arts falls behind the fight against hunger…. But we shouldn’t forget that we also need to care for our nation’s soul
And to all our potential donors, I urge you to take the risk.
Send one artist. Who knows… what he or she can contribute back to our nation?
It’s quite understandable that funding for the Arts typically falls behind the fight against hunger, the efforts to save the environment, health care, housing, and even sports. But we shouldn’t forget that we also need to care for our nation’s soul. And what better way to do that than by supporting our artists to pursue new perspectives in a new environment, new learnings from a global community, or… simply get that elusive respite to breathe and reenergize for more creative pursuits.

Ernest Escaler, Dr. Hayden Kho, Malu Gamboa Lindo, Susan Joven, Dr. Vicki Belo, Alice Eduardo

Jeffry Campos, Rep. Len Alonte, Malu Gamboa Lindo, Philip Cruz, Steve Naguiat

First Lady Lisa Araneta-Marcos with Dr. Z and Aivee Teo

Josie Natori and former Ambassador Isabel Wilson who helped in the formative years of ACC

Ernest Escaler, Jojie Dingcong, Kevin Tan

Mike Toledo, Kevin Tan, Monina Lopez, Bettina Aboitiz and Piki Lopez

Maribel Ongpin and National Artist Alice Reyes

Alice Eduardo, Ching Cruz, Gino Gonzales and Dr. Joven Cuanang

Soprano Rachelle Gerodias and baritone Byeong In Park perform at dinner.