Online lecture by Pristine de Leon & Corrie Tan
Oct 10, 2026 (Saturday)
10:30 AM – 3:30 PM
Open to 40 participants
Regular: ₱1000 / Early bird: ₱800
* Open to international participants, lectures will be conducted in English. As a platform supporting the growth of art writing in the Philippines, we will prioritize Filipino applicants.

Onsite workshop by Pristine de Leon
Oct 24 & Dec 5 & 12, 2026 (Saturdays)
1:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Open to 10 participants
Regular: ₱3500 / Early bird: ₱3000
* Onsite attendance at PKL Center, Makati City is required. Registration includes access to the online lecture, which we highly recommend joining live. A recording will be provided for those who cannot attend on Oct 10.

About the Lecture-Workshop

Beyond responding to a single art work, exhibition or performance, this lecture-workshop turns the critical eye towards trends, tendencies, and broader issues that affect an arts community.

In 1988, artist-critic Cesare Syjuco wrote that “a newspaper critic must occasionally address himself not only to artworks in the galleries, but also to searing artworld issues and undercurrents.” Where do writers pick up the symptoms of these currents and how are they then crafted into texts? The program leans into genres such as the op-ed, thinkpiece, and long-form cultural journalism, exploring the persuasions that drive these forms and the ways they allow critics to address the artists, the public, and the times. Drawing from recently published articles from Jom, a Singaporean literary magazine, as well as from the KLFI archives, the program traces a range of critical voices and moods, and offers reflections on how critics may come to be known in their milieu: as adversary, provocateur, intermediary, companion or kapwa.

These concerns are then brought into the level of the paragraph, or the sound of the text, as participants gain practical editorial pointers on weaving theory into relatable writing, fleshing out contexts, and shaping the essay into a space of connectedness and analysis.

Quote from: Syjuco, Cesare A. X. “The Critic: Villain or Vital Cog.” PKL Scrapbook Vol. LII, July 1988. KLFI Archives.

About the Facilitators

Pristine L. de Leon (she/her) is an art critic who writes promiscuously between journalistic, academic, and creative contexts. Since receiving the 2016 Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Prize for Art Criticism, she has written on visual art as a columnist for The Philippine Star and as a contributor to media publications in Manila and Singapore. In 2020, she was the recipient of the Emerging Writers Fellowship organized by Southeast of Now. More recently, she has written art history essays for the Stories section of the Singapore Art Museum and for post, a research platform by the Museum of Modern Art New York. Her fascination with the shape-shifting figure of the art critic led her to join ArtsEquator’s Asian Arts Media Roundtable (2019) and the Critical Ecologies | Critical Anomalies collective, an online residency hosted by Centre 42 (2021). She currently teaches at the Department of Art Studies at the University of the Philippines.

Corrie Tan (she/her) makes sense of art through intimate writing. A wayfarer and wayfinder between journalism, academia and artistic practice, her work traverses cultural criticism, conversation and creative nonfiction. She is the arts editor of Jom, an independent literary magazine from Singapore; the director of the Asian Dramaturgs’ Network; and was most recently Postdoctoral Fellow in the Arts at the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies (2025-26). Corrie holds a Ph.D. in theatre and performance studies jointly awarded by King’s College London and the National University of Singapore. For the past 15 years, she has written extensively about performance and culture for publications such as The Guardian, ArtsEquator, Exeunt Magazine and The Straits Times. She has also run workshops, clinics and other writing programmes at the National University of Singapore, Asia Research Institute, Sing Lit Station, Centre 42 and LASALLE College of the Arts, among others. www.corrie-tan.com

1. As slots are limited, we will be screening submissions (a) for the online lecture, to prioritize Filipino applicants as we are opening registration to international participants as well; and (b) for the workshop, to ensure a focused learning environment and personalized feedback, similar to the past two iterations of this program.
2. Applicants will be informed if they have been selected to join the online lecture or onsite workshop. Payment details will only be shared once they confirm their slot. If a selected applicant does not confirm, the slot will be given to the next waitlisted applicant.
3. Early bird rate applies only to applicants (a) who applied on or before Aug 28, 2026 (Friday), (b) are confirmed for the final list, and (c) fall within the limited early bird slots, given on a first-come, first-served basis.
4. The fee includes a specially selected reading kit for all participants, featuring pieces from Singaporean literary magazine Jom and exclusive articles from the scrapbooks of Purita Kalaw-Ledesma. For onsite workshop participants, the fee is inclusive of snacks during the sessions.

For Onsite Workshop Applicants

• During the workshop, participants are expected to produce an art critique towards trends, tendencies, and broader issues that affect an arts community, instead of responding to a single art work, exhibition or performance.
  Existing works, such as previously published essays or entries submitted to the Ateneo Art Awards – PKL Prizes in Art Criticism, cannot be pitched or used as the workshop output.
• We are open to writers based in the Philippines who are still building their practice in writing art criticism.
• Previous workshop participants (from 2024 and 2025) are welcome to apply again, especially with this year’s new thematic focus, although we will also be looking to welcome new voices into the workshop.
• Workshop applicants not selected for one of the 10 slots may still be considered by the selection committee for the online lecture.

Workshop Structure

Online lecture | Oct 10, 2026 (Sat)

• 10:30 AM – 11:00 AM – Introduction 
• 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM – Lecture by Pristine de Leon
• 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM – Lunch break
• 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM – Lecture by Corrie Tan
• 2:00 PM – 2:15 PM – Synthesis/Response by Pristine de Leon 
• 2:15 PM – 3:30 PM – Q&A with Pristine de Leon and Corrie Tan

Onsite workshop

• The onsite workshop will be held at the Purita Kalaw-Ledesma Center in Makati City, across three Saturdays, from 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM:
  • Oct 24, 2026 – Lecture
  • Dec 5, 2026 – Feedback session
  • Dec 12, 2026 – Feedback session / Culminating meeting
• From Oct 24 to end of November 2026, participants will be given time to write, based on what they have pitched during their application.
• Participants will also have time to review each other’s output ahead of the feedback sessions.

Application Dates