With the environment as this year’s theme, the art contest is open to all Filipino women, both established and unknown artists. Ten winners will be chosen sometime in March, and from this list will come the top three.
By Alex Y. Vergara
Prime movers behind Sining Filipina recently launched the art competition’s second edition at the SM Aura’s Samsung Hall. Just like in its debut edition last year, the contest is open to all natural-born Filipino women. Whereas “Women Empowerment” was last year’s theme, this time, organizers, led by Stella Cabalatungan, Zonta Club of Makati and Environs committee chairperson for Sining Filipina, decided to focus on the environment.
Cabalatungan was joined by Grace Magno, SM Supermalls VP for corporate marketing, and Rosemarie Rafael, Airspeed president, during the launch. Veteran broadcast journalist Rico Hizon moderated the event.
The contest is open to all Filipino women, both established and unknown artists, from all over the country. Even Filipino women with dual citizenships are welcome to join. Participants are requested not to sign their respective entries, so as not to influence the decision of this year’s board of judges.
Although environment is the chosen theme this year, participants won’t be limited to using environment-friendly and sustainable materials and techniques. Instead, the environmental theme should reflect and be able to resonate with the judges—whose identities have yet to be revealed—through their entries. And to make it easier for participants, especially those living in far-flung provinces, to send in their entries, selected branches of SM Supermalls nationwide as well as Chinabank will be accepting them.
“We will provide you with the details in the coming days, including where and how they could send in their entries,” said Magno.
Out of all the entries, judges will be choosing 50 finalists. The list would be trimmed further to 10 winners. From this magic circle will come the grand prize winner.
“The grand prize winner will get P250,000 pesos in cash, plus a trophy. The second prize will get P150,000 in cash, plus a trophy. The third placer will be getting P100,000, plus a trophy,” Magno added.
This year, organizers added fourth and fifth prize winners who would be receiving P75,000 and P50,000, respectively. Sponsors will be getting the top three artworks, while the rest will be exhibited from March 26 to April 3 at SM Aura. The art show is open to the public.
“Prices in this art show can vary,” said Magno. “Last year, for example, we gave the artists the option to indicate their prices. But we want to make it affordable to more people. So, our suggested price would be between P20,000 to a maximum of P150,000.”
More than the beguiling and sometimes thought-provoking images that end up on these women’s canvases are the dramatic stories that went into the making of not a few of their artworks. Although the stories behind these entries have no bearing on the judging, they inspire a lot of people, nonetheless, including the artists themselves, to overcome certain limitations because they now have a huge and welcoming venue for their artworks to be seen.
“This competition provided a lot of confidence and hope to aspiring Filipina artists. We learned a lot from it during our first year,” said Cabalatungan. “It’s quite inspiring when you see some of them painting in their kitchens after cooking and when the children are already asleep. It also gave a lot of hope to those who believe they have the talent, but may not have the opportunity to be recognized because they had no venue.
“And this is one competition that was a total game changer for them, because just like education, art, I believe, is a major equalizer. You know, in education, whether you’re poor or you’re rich, if you’re educated, you have a chance in life. In art, it’s the same. We just have to give them the venue, the platform, and the opportunity.”
For more information, including application form and contest mechanics, log on to zontaclubme.com
