Oscar Gomez/Borderless MagazineDuring the two-hour livestream, Sarahlynn Pablo and her co-hosts discussed Filipino identity, mental health and representation as part of a fundraiser for the Rizal Center.
As a child, Annamarie Tabo remembers being dragged along to the Rizal Center on Irving Park Road while her parents took bachata and salsa dance classes. At the time, the highlight for Tabo wasn’t the center or its programming — it was the Burger King across the street.
A few decades later, Burger King is gone, but the Rizal Center — a hub for the Filipino community — is still standing. The neighborhood has changed, but so has Tabo’s perspective on the center.
“I’m not being dragged to the Rizal Center anymore,” Tabo said. “I’m choosing to be a part of it.”
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Tabo isn’t alone. She’s part of a movement of Filipino community members throughout Chicago and Illinois who have chosen to return to the Rizal Center since its reopening in 2022.
Volunteer Sarahlynn Pablo is among folks committed to supporting the center in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood. The Chicagoan founded the kultura creatives’ cooperative, a media production company that aims to connect and uplift underrepresented entrepreneurs and voices from the Filipino diaspora in the media and entertainment industry.
Over the next year, Pablo hopes to raise $1 million for the Rizal Center.
Pablo recently kicked off the yearlong fundraiser using an unconventional platform: Twitch. The livestreaming service is most often used for gaming content, but Pablo saw the platform as an opportunity to connect members of the Filipino community in Chicago and across the globe.
“[Filipinos] are part of this broader fabric that spans all over the world — and your experience as a Filipino here isn’t the same as the experience of being a Filipino in the Philippines or in Italy, or Dubai, or any other places in the world,” Pablo said. “But…we share something very special, and that I think is worth celebrating.”
During the two-hour livestream, entitled “Good Morning, Manila,” Pablo, Tabo, and co-host Michi Trota discussed various topics such as mental health, growing up within an immigrant household, their relationships with Filipino identity and representation in the arts and the media.
The theme was “ingat palagi,” which means “take care, always” in Tagalog, Pablo said.
The livestream, which averaged about a dozen viewers, has since garnered almost 200 views and raised roughly $500 for the Rizal Center.
The money raised will go toward building repairs, such as fixing the basement and second floor, and updating the plumbing and restrooms.
Jerry Clarito, chairman of the Filipino American Council of Greater Chicago (FACGC), which oversees the Rizal Center, said the fundraiser was an example of what the center inspires in the community.
“All of these [efforts to support the Rizal Center] are coming…from [volunteers’] heart,” Clarito said. “All of these are coming from their passion, and I think that’s the reason why the Rizal Center is gaining a lot of patrons.”
And Pablo, Tabo and Trota aren’t the first volunteers to offer to help the Rizal Center. Over the last two years, other volunteers have helped revitalize the center, which was dormant between 2017 and 2022 during a protracted legal battle. Volunteers have helped run social media for the center, rehabilitate the auditorium’s flooring and install new lighting.
For many Filipinos in Illinois, the Rizal Center offers a space to build and unite the community.
It’s important to have a physical space for people to come together and engage in different types of programming, such as Tagalog classes, Pablo said.
She hopes the fundraising broadcast will showcase Filipino voices and stories while also giving back to the Rizal Center, which has been an important community hub for Filipinos and Filipino Americans throughout Illinois for generations.
“The historical value of having a decades-old cultural center in the hands of community stewards that can be there for generations to come — that’s a cause I am really behind,” Pablo said.
The next “Good Morning, Manila” livestream for the ongoing Rizal Center fundraiser will be from 7-9 p.m. CST on Monday, Dec. 9. Pablo will be hosting the livestream from Quezon City in the Philippines. You can buy tickets for the show here or donate directly to the Rizal Center here.
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