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Magic & Mystics
Patrons of the Arts spin off event Magics & Mystics, a recurring fantasy- and magic-themed art market that has become a vibrant hub for imagination and craftsmanship. The event highlights the extraordinary talents of hundreds of independent local creators, illustrators, and crafters, offering audiences an enchanting showcase of works inspired by folklore, myth, and the mystical arts.
I know this blog post is a bit late due to so much personal stuff that’s keeping me busy. Anyhoo…Patrons of the Arts is the gift that keeps on giving. After the cancellation of their biggest events, such as Patrons of the Arts: Originals, so far they haven’t posted any updates about the cancellation; it’s like that event never existed. I suspect they never booked the venue at Space at One Ayala in the first place, given that the cost of renting the space might be a lot. I’m not surprised, given that the organizers were having money problems and never refunded the artists. When the news of their “scam” exploded, they decided to step away from organizing the remaining events, such as Magic & Mystics, Lust, and Potaween events. They dumped the responsibility to third-party organizers, in an effort to lessen their liabilities.
The Magic and Mystics event was announced to push through at the last minute, much to the surprise of most artists who were waiting to be refunded. The sudden announcement of the event pushing through leaves very little time to promote the Magic & Mystics event. Despite some artists communicating that they’re pulling out of the event. They were included in the artists’ roster anyway in the event pubmats. Some were forced to join the event anyway since they will no longer be eligible to get a refund. I presume that the Magic & Mystics event at Centris Elements QC was pushed through to avoid giving refunds to participating artist.
Now that places everyone in a dilemma. They can’t exactly call on the people to boycott the event since the artists needed to make the sales to recoup their investment from the event. Yet at the same time, the organizers will profit from the event through ticket sales.
Soon, my threads were abuzz with complaints by artists about the organizers making minimal effort to make the event visible. Based on what was posted, the organizers just don’t give a fuck about the event. Things got really so bad that one of the Patrons of the Arts co-founders, Isabel Malit, had to do the damage control. Speaking of which, her other half, Josh Malit, hasn’t made any statement, appearance, or whatever. Hold up, I thought they were stepping back from organizing the event and a third party would be handling it. By sending that kind of email, it seems that they are still pretty much in charge of organizing the event all along.
The plot thickens when the third party also issued a statement. It seems like they function as personnel rather than an organizer. They were never in charge of the event; they’re just there to ensure they provide the bare minimum. I suspect that they have some kind of expectation that people will still show up to the event, thus ensuring that they can raise enough money from ticket sales to refund people, or maybe they won’t?
Looks like the PotA duo are still heavily invested in organizing the art event. I don’t think we’ll be seeing the last of them, and they will somehow wait for the heat to dissipate and hope that people will forget about their shenanigans. It’s bad enough that we are in such a dire economic state, and now we have to deal with greedy organizers who treat the artists as some kind of cash cow. We always have to be on the lookout for such scammers.
In light of the PotA cancellation and their botched events. Local creatives through Project Lemons are organizing a one-day community pop-up called “Protest of the Arts: The People’s Art Market” on September 13, 2026, at the First United Building in Escolta, Manila.
The People’s Art Market offers free admission, with a ₱750 fee for artists selling at the pop-up. It also features a free community talk by a lawyer on proprietary rights, contracts, and small claims to guide artists in understanding their legal options.
