Since it was established in December 2017, the Alfredo F. Tadiar Library has importantly served as a vibrant hub of research, learning, and culture for communities in San Fernando, La Union as well as in the broader Northern Philippines. Through its various projects and activities, the Library has served and inspired diverse constituencies of students, local residents, retired senior citizens, and recent migrants and visitors to the area to become learners, writers, artists, and knowledge-producers. It has organized and held participatory workshops in writing, and zine and art making, collective and community art exhibitions, lectures, monthly film screenings, a small press expo fair, and community dialogues that have led to its increased recognition and visibility as a leading independent, community-focused, collaborative educational and cultural institution in La Union.
The Alfredo F. Tadiar Library sponsors artist-led community workshops and exhibitions designed to draw in members of local communities as participants in forms of art making. We seek creative workshops that approach new, contemporary, or traditional forms of art making as a meaningful social practice that enables community members to address social themes and issues of importance and relevance to their lives and the broader contexts that shape them.
Exhibitions of artwork generated in the workshops are collective endeavors, allowing participants to collaborate with the artist to contribute and curate the products of their own artistic practice.
The Balay da Judge Writers and Artists Residency Program aims to provide dedicated time and space to writers and artists who are working on projects related to the objectives and mission of the Alfredo F. Tadiar Library, including generating knowledge and culture in the core areas of our collection (Ilocano literature, law, and history; scholarly and literary work on and by communities of the Ilocos, Cordillera, and Cagayan Valley; women, religious and ethnic minorities, and marginalized social sectors; arts, culture, and social and natural or environmental histories of Northern Philippines; and migration and diaspora studies of Northern Philippine communities abroad).
We are especially happy to support projects that contribute to the strengthening of local communities, the flourishing of people’s life capacities, and the exploration of creative and imaginative possibilities in the direction of progressive change. In addition to individual creatives, the Library also supports small collectives, who seek time and space to develop work relevant to our mission and who propose to hold workshops and/or other activities that invite community participation, self-understanding, self-determination, and empowerment.
The Library provides 2-4 week long residencies, with accommodations in the Tadiar House (Balay da Judge) in Catbangen, which includes a creative studio space for writing or making art. The House is a 7-minute tricycle ride from the Library in the City of San Fernando. Residencies offered are either paid (with a provision for transportation and a modest living stipend) or unpaid (accommodations only).
Writers and artists in residence (both paid and unpaid) are expected to hold a public activity (reading, lecture, workshop, exhibit, screening, performance, etc.) in the Library during the period of residence.
Non-conventional, amateur, and emergent creative practitioners and cultural workers are welcome to apply, along with professional and established writers and artists in any medium.
To apply for a residency, please send (1) a cover letter, (2) a resume, and (3) a 1-2 page description (maximum 500 words) of the work in progress to be undertaken during the residency. Applications, which must be submitted in a single PDF file, must indicate whether the application is for a paid or unpaid residency, a range of proposed dates for the residency, and a short description of the public activity to be undertaken.
We welcome applications at any time, but we can only offer four (4) paid residencies for 2025. Applications for paid residencies must be submitted at least one month before proposed residency period. Grantees for unpaid residencies will have to be scheduled within the programming calendar of the Library.
Applications must be emailed to: aftadiarlibrary@gmail.com
Please address: The Programming Committee
The Alfredo F. Tadiar Library provides free accommodations in Balay da Judge for 2-7 days for visiting researchers who plan on using our Collections. The Visiting Researcher Residency is awarded by application only. Applications must include a cover letter, providing biographical information on the researcher and detailing research to be undertaken as well as collections to be used.
The Alfredo F. Tadiar Library was established in December 2017 in San Fernando, La Union as an independent reading and research library, free and open to the public, with PUÓN serving as its supporting space of public outreach and engagement.
