Last week of VLF 2020 Kapit online
THE Virgin Labfest (VLF) is now on its last week in the virtual stage. Catch the featured plays with their free live online performances at Cultural Center of the Philippines’ official Facebook account and VLF official Facebook account until June 28. Virgin Labfest 2020: KAPIT is also available on Vimeo (https://vimeo.com/ondemand/vlf2020kapit) until July 1. Watch at your own leisure with the regular package (P100) or the premium package (P200). Limited performances come with English subtitles. One of the main components of VLF, the Playwright’s Fair keeps up with conversations with playwrights and authors on June 25 to 27, at 8 p.m. Meanwhile, the VLF Fellowship Program concludes with an online staged reading of the fellows’ works, directed by Dennis Marasigan, on June 28 at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. VLF 2020 Kapit: Lab in the Time of Covid (A Virtual Labfest Edition), the theater festival of untried, untested and unstaged plays features nine new works, three revisited plays, and six staged readings. For Festival Schedule and synopses, visit https://bit.ly/3bT6Y3y.
Casa de Memoria launches new online auction platform
FOLLOWING the success of its Primero and Segundo anniversary and inaugural online auctions, Casa de Memoria, the Lhuillier-managed auction house now introduces The Casa Online. Powered by Invaluable, The Casa Online is a series of auctions that aim to provide budding art enthusiasts and younger collectors with an accessible platform featuring smaller art pieces and interesting bric-a-brac that are priced within the reach of this growing audience. With this, The Casa Online will be featuring a series of at least four online auctions, starting with The Casa Online 01 on July 11, Saturday. It will feature European-Filipino art pieces but highlighting paintings and small vintage items with a ceiling price of P45,000. Proceeds from The Casa Online 01 will be donated to Sagip Kapamilya, the emergency humanitarian assistance program of the ABS-CBN Foundation. Among the items included are Cafetera by Victor Arrizabagala, Portrait of a girl by Henri Matisse, Bronze Lioness by Antoine-Louis Barye, and an album containing 62 Spanish advertisements.
West Gallery opens several exhibits
WEST GALLERY reopens to the public on June 25 with new solo exhibitions by Raffy Napay, Mark Andy Garcia, Neil Pasilan, and Ryan Rubio. The exhibits — Raffy Napay’s Dugtong, Mark Andy Garcia’s To Live, Neil Pasilan’s Beautiful Sunrise to Sunset, and Ryan Rubio’s The Beauty and the Truth — will run from June 25 to July 25. To ensure the health and safety of the staff, artists, and guests, there will be no opening reception but the gallery will be receiving visitors by appointment only. There are new gallery hours — it is open Monday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. To make an appointment, call 3411-0336.
Komikera wins 2020 PBBY-Alcala prize
THE Philippine Board on Books for Young People (PBBY) will give the grand prize award of the 2020 PBBY-Alcala Prize to illustrator Victoria Melissa R. Tadiar during the 37th National Children’s Book Day (NCBD) celebration on July 21. Tadiar won for her illustrations for Boon Kristoffer Lauw’s chapter book, Team Abangers at ang Estilong Trumpo. Lauw won the grand prize at the 2020 PBBY-Salanga Prize, the first time the competition was opened to chapter books. A full-time IT professional who works on comics and illustrations in her free time, Tadiar won the Komiket Best Komiks Award in 2017 for her Filipiniana fantasy comic SAGALA, which was released as a self-published graphic novel in 2019. Her current project, Twinkle, Twinkle, is an Official Selection finalist at the First Philippine International Comics Festival. She is also a new member of Ang InK (Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan), the only professional organization of children’s illustrators. The Cultural Center of the Philippines and the PBBY celebrate NCBD every third Tuesday of July to commemorate the anniversary of the publication of Jose Rizal’s rendition of the folk tale “The Monkey and the Turtle” in the July 1889 issue of Trubner’s Oriental Record in London. For inquiries about the contest, contact the PBBY secretariat at secretariat@pbby.org.ph.
