When Alfredo Esquillo founded Eskinita Art Gallery in 2017, he purposely wanted it to be favor upstart creative Filipinos as an artist-run space. This is where he and his mentor, Renato Habulan, collaborated again and formalized the Tuklas Program, now on its fourth offing. 

Tuklas Program is a revival of a similar project in the 70s initiated by Center for Advancement of Young Artist that launched the careers of many social realist artists from Habulan’s generation.

Newly initiated in the art scene, these young artists were mostly students of fine arts and other art-related disciplines, Esquillo and Habulan, together with other jurors, Mark Justiniani and Emmanuel Garibay, personally handpicked nine of them for showing their promising potential. Some of them were having exhibits in local art galleries and a number have already been recognized in national art competitions for their authentic visual language and in finding fresh approaches to painting and sculpture.

With the revised Tuklas Progam now at the Eskinita Art Farm. It was also decided that will be given every two years for every grantee to experience living in Tanauan, Batangas.

This year, grantees were Abril Dominic Valdemoro, Alyssa Munar, Beatriz Yu, Frenk Sison, Ianna Engano, Jayme Lucas, Joen Sudlon, Kinoo Padlan, and Steve Natal.

-Jay Bautista