In celebration of its 35th year, the De La Salle College of Saint Benilde launches the Benilde Open Design and Art 2024 (Benilde Open), an initiative that welcomes artists, architects, technologists, engineers, industrial designers, craftsmen, illustrators, textile designers, animators, playwrights, composers, poets, filmmakers, cinematographers, lighting designers, fashion designers, chefs, and all creative practitioners to heed the call to submit proposals to realize projects that have not seen the light of day. Proposals should revolve around curiosities on movement and its relationship to sustainability, the shuttling of thinking across craft and technology, and the culturing of the virtual with the real. 
The call further seeks design and art projects marked by an appetite for investigation and experimentation, for tinkering that fuels renovation and innovation.  
Submissions of proposals are ongoing until Jan. 31. All selected proposals will be announced by March 2024.
The entries will be reviewed and selected by a noteworthy jury—local and international advocates representing the creative industries. Ten projects will each be awarded a grant of up to ₱300,000 net of taxes, to assist in bringing the projects to fruition. 
Get Ready for the Best of Benilde!    
The Benilde Open also features the “Best of Benilde,” a juried degree exhibition of student works. An open call for proposals is extended to all students of De La Salle College of Saint Benilde: School of Environment and Design, School of Arts, Culture, and Performance, School of New Media, School of Diplomacy and Governance, School of Hotel, Restaurant, and Institution Management, School of Management and Information Technology, School of Multidisciplinary Studies, and the School of Deaf Education and Applied Deaf Studies.
Students are encouraged to submit proposals of school projects resonating with the idea of curiosities, spanning sustainability and movement, the intersection of craft and technology, and the exploration of digital or virtual domains.
The “Best of Benilde” delves into these queries: Is there such a world? Can such a world be more than imagined? Can we create foundational designs and proposals for such worlds to become more than just fanciful ideas? 
The Benilde Open is dedicated to shaping art and design sensibilities by championing innovative and collaborative projects across diverse creative disciplines within and outside the school. The project is facilitated by a working team of convenors who are faculty, associates, or consultants in service of the school—Ayi Magpayo, Rita Nazareno, Gabby Lichauco, Joselina Cruz, and Dindin Araneta, together with Benilde president, Br. Dodo Fernandez, a visual artist. open.benilde.edu.ph