Interview Danielle Austria
Images Allen Esteban, Novice Magazine
Hello, Allen! I hope you’re having a good one. What’s been on your mind the most these days?
Allen Esteban, Creative & Managing Director of Novice Magazine: Aside from the workload from my day job and what to eat next (lol), I’ve been preoccupied lately with the production and completing the target pre-orders of Novice Issue 03. In spite of the pressure and tons of effort in putting up this issue, I believe Novice is helping me get through the pandemic. I think I’d lose it if I won’t be doing anything, creating something—meaningful things —and I think a lot of creatives are experiencing the same and can relate to this.
Novice Issue 03, headlined by Xyza Cruz Bacani (and a double cover with artwork by Brian Avecilla), is out to print soon. What was it like putting together this release?
Same as last year, it’s a challenge working on the print issue during this time of the pandemic. We’re under a lot of constraints with doing the shoots, interviews, shipment with our suppliers, and more. But despite these difficulties, we still chose to push through and find ways to make it work. We don’t want to skip a year as we only release prints annually and as much as we can, we want every edition to always be extra special.
This edition is exciting as it is jam-packed with everything that we love, from inspiring stories of people we look up to in the creative world, stories from up-and-coming creatives, and amazing pieces from more than a hundred local creatives. Novice Issue 03 is an experience itself and we want everyone to get their hands on it, but we only print limited copies so be sure to reserve your copy before the 31st.
For this edition we did our first ever cover contest and we received a lot of amazing entries from our local artists. The brief was to envision a world from tabula rasa. Brian Avecilla’s piece stood out and really deserved the win. Originally, we only planned for a single cover, but after our virtual interview with Xyza Cruz Bacani, we realized that she needs to be on the cover of this issue, too! That’s when we decided to do a double cover. Mas bongga!
Does it feel full circle somehow to have Xyza on your cover? In the magazine’s origin story, it was mentioned that it was her you saw on a PURVEYR cover when the idea for Novice sprouted in your mind.
YES, IT IS! We’ve really come full circle, and it’s still mind blowing to think about it until now! Can you believe this feature was two years in the making? The month after we officially organized in 2019, our content editor based in New York, Ellaine Laureta, went to Xyza’s exhibit for ‘We Are Like Air’ and waited until the event was over to speak with her and pitch the idea of possibly featuring her on Novice. They’ve been in contact since then and even bumped into each other once or twice in the streets of NY.
Fast forward to 2021, we invited her to be the main feature story for the third issue and she said yes! She has been one of our inspirations since college days. It was a great honor and a privilege to sit and talk virtually with the Xyza Cruz Bacani. She was very insightful and generous with her thoughts and ideas. The timing of it all was perfect since she’s been at home in Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya since the pandemic so our team also got the chance to shoot her on one of her assignments. Everything just fell into place. Our vision finally came to life and we couldn’t be more excited for this piece.
Was Novice decidedly print from the get-go? What motivates you to hold on to a well-loved but challenged medium?
No. The initial plan was to come up with a digital issue for our first release, given that we don’t have the financial resources to fund the printing. I personally want to produce prints. I’ve been in love with print since high school. I have a huge collection of magazines and books that I haven’t read lols. I still prefer print over digital publications. Aside from having to smell the pages of new books or magazines, I love the idea of having something that is tangible.
The original members of the Novice team and I were part of our campus publication when we were in college, so we were exposed to the printing and the publication process. Once we got the final selection for the maiden issue, we saw the possibility of having it printed through pre-orders and sponsorships. We asked all contributing creatives if they are up to it, if they are willing to help reach the target number of pre-orders. Most of them are excited with the idea, that’s when we decided to push with the printing.
With all our issues, specially print, we were able to give pride and sense of fulfillment to our contributing creatives. Some of them were just starting with their craft and haven’t been in any publication. Also, we were able to encourage these creatives to self promote and give more value to their work. And lastly, we were able to build a community that supports each other, helping one another to reach one goal. We weren’t thinking much about these things when we were planning to print. We just really wanted to print. It wasn’t the best practical decision, it was a great risk, but I guess, it is the right decision. Being independent and self-published is not easy, but all the hard work is worth it.
In 2020, you released four all-digital issues. Were they part of your original plan, perhaps to have as complementary to print? Or was the decision born of need in the pandemic?
In 2019, the original plan was to release a non-thematic annual collection of creative outputs which eventually led to print. Then 2020 came. While we were working on the second print issue, the pandemic hit and a lot of issues came out under the current administration, one of which is the Anti-Terrorism Bill. That triggered us to utilize our platform and maximize the power of art. We came up with Artisvism, an anthology of subversive art and a rallying cry against the Anti-Terrorism Bill. Then the other thematic digital issues followed. We had Memento., a collection of real life stories and images in the time of COVID-19, and Kasiyanna, an anthology that honors the traditional, rich cultures of indigenous people and sheds light on the collective issues within their communities amidst the pandemic.
As for the the Novice Spotlight 2020, this one is a compilation of all the featured creatives on our #NoviceSpotlight segment. Mostly, we invite visual artists (photographers, graphic designers, illustrators, graphic artists, etc.), to share their work with us and then we share them on our social media platforms. Right now, #NoviceSpotlight is on hiatus while we work on the third print issue, but we’ve received a lot of submissions lately so we’ve already lined them up and will post once we resume in June. This is one thing I’m really happy and excited doing in Novice, it’s the celebration and championing the works of local creatives. There are a lot of amazing creatives out there waiting to be in the spotlight that they deserve and we are beyond honored to shine the light on them through our platform.
You, Xyza and a number of core people in your team all hail from Nueva Vizcaya. In my Manila-bred ignorance, I never realized how much creative talent flows out from your town, but it’s a joy to discover now. What is the creative culture like back home?
I think creative talent does not and cannot be confined or rooted in a specific place, but it’s more of a continuing process by where our roots just happen to be a common denominator for us and is part of our creative talents. We are happy that somehow people are becoming more aware of it, not “discovered”, because it may lead other people to more awareness.
The creative culture in our home and I dare say any province in the Philippines are mostly rooted in our ethnicities, identities, and self-expression. But growing up, I wasn’t really aware of this. Maybe it was not that evident or people weren’t really that aware. One thing is for sure: there are a lot of creative people in Nueva Vizcaya. I know a lot. I think it is more of individualism and not much of a community-driven movement like what Baguio City has. I noticed that most of the creatives from our province, including myself, seemed to find their identity somewhere else, discover how to spread their wings somewhere else, where art is thriving better.
But now I can see that the creative scene is slowly progressing back home. I can see more programs from the local government that focus on creativity, especially from the Tourism department of Nueva Vizcaya. Recently, they are doing more activities and collaborations in support of creatives, from conducting art competitions, hosting exhibits, and the like. They even supported us on our second issue through Violet Lucasi! Hello, Ate Vio!
How do you define a creative?
A creative person is someone who can translate his vision into reality, someone who is truthful with his craft, someone who knows his influences but keeps his own identity intact.
How do you envision Novice evolving?
More than being a platform for more creatives and home for artistic collaborations in the future, I want to see Novice as a sustainable organization when it comes to its finances. Proceeds from the sales of our print issues are only minimal and it is allotted for future projects of The Volume Project, our humble volunteer initiative to help where we can. Right now, we are planning to explore income generating projects like setting up merchandise lines or offering creative services so we can keep producing more print projects soon.
For The Volume Project, hopefully we can extend more help to various communities and maybe continue with our original advocacy which is to provide mini-libraries for kids in far-flung communities in Nueva Vizcaya.
Thank you for indulging us, Allen! We can’t wait to get our hands on this issue.
Yassss! We are very excited to bring this issue to print! Thanks again for this opportunity to share Novice with the Kanto community. We appreciate this so much! Let’s keep creating! •
Novice Issue 03 will run on limited print copies; pre-order here. Get updates on Instagram @novicemagazineph.
