The online edition of the CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art has nine sections.
The area on Peoples of the Philippines contains the master essays on the 54 ethnolinguistic groups of the Philippines, arranged alphabetically from Aeta to Yakan. Each essay gives essential and succinct information on the group, its history, economy, political system, social organization and customs, and religious beliefs and practices, and integrates a discussion of the group’s architecture and community planning, visual arts, literary arts, media arts, and performing arts.
The next eight areas focus on the eight arts, with one area dedicated to each art form: Architecture, Visual Arts, Dance, Music, Theater, Film, Broadcast Arts, and Literature. To encompass all the major aspects of the art form, each section is divided into:
Historical Essays, which traces the diachronic development of these art forms;
Forms and Types, which describes the major genres in each art form in alphabetical order;
Aspects of the [art form], which discusses topics related to the production, dissemination, patronage, validation, and study of art works;
Works, which presents art objects, structures, productions, or literary oeuvres singled out for starting a new movement or embodying the best practice in a genre or being a landmark in the history of an art form or in the artistic development of an artist;
Artists and Organizations, which lists important artists, technicians, and organizations and their artistic achievements;
Photographs and video clips illustrate specific points or act as artistic guideposts to the article. The media gallery containing all the photos and video clips in the encyclopedia can be accessed either in its entirety or in the section to which they belong.
For the researcher, the Search function of this online encyclopedia is the most helpful first stop. It lists all the major terms, forms, names, concepts, and books found in the various areas of the encyclopedia.
The encyclopedia was designed specifically for the student. Ideas are outlined clearly in each essay and subheadings used. The language is simple and the style is straightforward.
While the style follows the prescriptions of The Chicago Manual of Style (16th Edition), the editors have created the following special rules for this encyclopedia:
Technical terms and native terms are immediately explained with their meanings in English, with or without parentheses.
In-text citations, the second name of the author, year of publication, and page numbers are placed in parentheses right after the sentence that uses sources which need to be identified. The complete data of these citations may be found at the end of some articles.
Terms related to an art form are set in boldface the first time they appear in the essay.
Other native and non-English terms not related or specific to an art form are set in italics the first time they are mentioned.
Translations of native terms are usually enclosed in parentheses.
Filipino words that have entered the English language and whose meaning in English match their Filipino originals’ are no longer set in italics.
The following are set in boldface italics each time they are mentioned: titles of paintings, publications, films, radio and television programs, large-scale choreographic works like ballets and contemporary dance productions, plays, sarsuwela, major concerts, albums, and larger works of music, like symphonies, overtures, concertos, operas, suites, symphonic or tone poems, and chamber music.
The following are set in normal type and enclosed in quotation marks each time they are mentioned: titles of short stories and poems, newspaper columns, magazine articles, theses, popular songs, protest songs, marches, hymns, art songs, solo instrumental pieces, short choral pieces, and ballads, as well as a minor part or a movement of a larger work.
The following words are abbreviated, with the periods removed: social, civil, and military titles, academic degrees, professional and religious designations, months of the year, metric units, names of saints, name suffixes, and aka (also known as).
The following words are abbreviated, with the periods removed: social, civil, and military titles, academic degrees, professional and religious designations, months of the year, metric units, names of saints, name suffixes, and aka (also known as).
Titles that are not in English are usually followed by an English translation enclosed in parentheses, followed by the year of publication or production.
Proper names, including names of groups and publications, are not translated or italicized.
For consistency, diacritical marks on native terms have been omitted, since they were not available for all native languages.