Cadiz City launched its first Visayas-wide painting tilt that is set to culminate in January next year, in time for its 51st Dinagsa Festival.
Themed “Pagsibol sa Kabihasnang Pamumuhay” (Visayan life), the art contest is open to all artists 18 years old and above in the Visayas Region.
At stake for the grand prize is P200,000.
Cadiz Mayor Salvador Escalante, an art connoisseur, said this is an ‘ambitious project’ to expand the city’s reach up to the other places in the Visayas.
“But art knows no boundaries,” he stressed, adding, “we need to expand our horizons for the sake of other artists in the Visayas just waiting to be discovered.”
Escalante institutionalized a painting contest in Cadiz shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic.
First, they started with only Cadiz artists as participants. But when the pandemic struck, Cadiz artists were greatly affected too, necessitating Escalante to look for a potent avenue for them to surmount the health crisis and cope with mental stress.
Allowing them to display their art works via a mall exhibit helped them face the pandemic.
With that, the mayor was more than inspired to see local artists thrive in the midst of challenges. The following year, he expanded their painting tilt to CaSaMa (Cadiz-Sagay-Manapla), or the Second District, and made it twice a year – every Dinagsa Festival in January and Cadiz Charter Month in July.
The mayor widened the contest last year, luring participants all over Negros Island.
Again, it was a resounding success that further fueled his desire to expand more. In the fifth year of artsy competition, he decided to open it to artists in the entire Visayas region.
This is also our way of exposing our local artists to their Visayan counterparts, thus, widening one’s horizon, Escalante said.
Cadiz will give artists a vehicle to be great people through great art works, the mayor enunciated, adding, “this is also our newest approach being in the list of creative cities in the Department of Trade and Industry’s Lungsod Lunsad Program.”
With the joy or happiness that art brings to humanity, Escalante also believes that storytelling via art works is one of the best ways to communicate with the people and the community. “Really, there’s ‘it’ in it!” Escalante said.
The requirements to join in the competition are dimensions: 32 x 26 inches – vertical or horizontal; mediums: oil, or acrylic on canvas; eligibility: open to Visayan residents 18 years old and above. Registration: sign up at https://forms.gle/5Xssz2QdT9p9pmSJ9.
Entry or entries can be coursed through courier between January 6-8, 2025 (to ensure arrival before the competition), or via walk-in submission at Cadiz City Arena, January 9-10, 2025, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.*
