Quincentennial contest deadline extended

CEBU, Philippines —  Visayas-based artists are invited to take part in the 2021 Quincentennial competitions including the Quincentennial Art Competition and Lapu-Lapu National Monument Design Competition after its deadline has been moved to January 6 of next year.

The National Quincentennial Committee (NQC) executive director, Dr. Rene Escalante, made this call via Mugstoria Ta of Assistant Secretary Jonji Gonzales of the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas.

“We know that our artists have also been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. And so, we are organizing these competitions to help our artists,” Escalante stressed.

The NQC said the painting competition has four themes: sovereignty, magnanimity, unity, and legacy.

The grand prize per theme is set at P500,000 while the rest of the top eight entries will take home P50,000 each.

To ease the burden of the artists in shipping their entries, Escalante said the NQC opened 23 new drop-off points across the country, mostly in museums manned by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP).

For Cebu, the drop-off points are the Cebu City Cultural and Historical Affairs Office and Rizal Memorial Library and Museum in Cebu City or at the Lapu-Lapu City Cultural and Historical Affairs Commission office.

In other areas in the Visayas, the drop-off points include the Museum of the Philippine Economic History in Iloilo City; the Negros Museum in Bacolod City; the National Museum in Tagbilaran City and the Department of Tourism Regional Office VIII in Tacloban City.

The National Committee on Art Galleries of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts sits in the technical working group of the competition, together with the NHCP.

Aside from the painting competition, Escalante also urged the public to join the Lapu-Lapu National Monument Design Competition, one of the flagship projects as part of the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Victory at Mactan.

The winning design will serve as the new Lapu-Lapu National Monument. It will be located inside the proposed Lapu-Lapu Shrine and Museum to be built at the Liberty Shrine in Lapu-Lapu City.

Escalante though clarified that the existing Lapu-Lapu Monument will not be replaced.

Entries must be submitted via electronic mail to [email protected] on or before the deadline.

The winning entry will serve as the basis of the Lapu-Lapu National Monument which will be the centerpiece of the proposed memorial shrine. The winning entry shall receive P300,000.

The guidelines, forms and additional details are available on the NQC website https://nqc.gov.ph/en/quincentennial-art-competition/.

The abovementioned competitions are among the remaining activities of the NQC that will push through amid the COVID-19 pandemic while over 50 other projects in time for the 2021 Quincentennial Commemorations were canceled, or indefinitely postponed accordingly. —  GMR (FREEMAN)