Emily Abrera, secretariat head of the 33rd DPC-PLDT Visual Arts Competition (VAC 33), leads the formal opening of the VAC 33 with the theme, 'Creating Legacy, Creating the Future.'

Leading digital services provider PLDT and Directories Philippines Corporation (DPC) have officially opened the 33rd DPC-PLDT Visual Arts Competition (VAC 33) with the theme, “Creating Legacy, Creating the Future.”

VAC 33 invites Fine Arts students, 18 to 24 years of age and enrolled in school year 2018-2019 at any accredited Philippine tertiary school with a Fine Arts program. A cash award of P100,000, among other prizes, awaits the winner.

All entries must be submitted through the schools. Fine Arts colleges, schools and departments nationwide are urged to select as many as five oil or acrylic paintings by their students as official entries to VAC 33. 

Fine Arts students are challenged to visualize legacy in a new light. As explained by the VAC 33 organizers, “One is never too young to think about legacy. In a rapidly changing world that is increasingly being driven by younger generations, we need to be more aware of the impact that our day-to-day life decisions — and the values we hold dear — will have on the future shape of our society and the sustainability of our planet.”

Aside from adherence to the theme, submitted paintings will be judged on the basis of visual composition, originality and their suitability as cover of the print telephone directories of PLDT (White Pages) and DPC (Yellow Pages).

All entries must be submitted by 4pm of March 1, 2019 at the DPC Main Office, 2322 Don Chino Roces Avenue Extension, Makati City. 

Full competition mechanics can be downloaded at www.visualarts.ph.

A fresh aspect of this year’s VAC is the introduction of a tandem DPC-PLDT Visual Arts Forum (VAF) Series. “The VAC has always been about supporting young Filipino artists in their formative years in the academe,” explained Chiqui Abad, Head of Home Customer Care at PLDT. “The companion forum series we are launching early next year is an exciting new avenue by which PLDT and DPC would like to deepen this advocacy and our engagement with Fine Arts schools and students nationwide.”

Conceived as a three-part forum series on salient art topics, featuring well-known artists and resource persons, the inaugural VAF will be hosted by a Metro Manila-based school in January 2019. Two other forums will be held in Cebu and Davao in January or February 2019.

Fine Arts students and faculty of the host school and neighboring schools will be invited to participate in each forum. To enable other schools nationwide to join the discussion online, each talk will be livestreamed via Facebook Live powered by PLDT broadband facilities.