THIS year’s National Digital Arts Awards (NDAA) gives a special focus on the Filipino youth’s talents in the digital-content industry. The rise of the digital age all over the world means there is a great demand for practitioners in the sectors of film and animation, visual arts and graphic design, digital games and apps, advertising content and production, and music and the performing arts.
Speaking at the NDAA 2017 relaunch party on August 4, held at the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions’s (Citem) HallOne, Globaltronics Vice President for Operations Lee Soriano said they are “developing the [Filipino] youth for the future”. Globaltronics, a digital signage advertiser in the Philippines, launched NDAA alongside Brand Guerrilla PH and Synergy 88 Digital.
“I think it is only proper as a player in this industry that we also extend support to digital-arts practitioners,” Soriano said of Globaltronics’s role in bolstering the country’s digital industry through NDAA. He said he’s already seeing the youth’s competence in producing digital content, noting even high-school students can now create amazing stuff as long as they have and can utilize the appropriate technology equipment to support their art.
Soriano said NDAA’s main goal is to “push the envelope further” and encourage youngsters to “go beyond their limits”. Globaltronics’s long-term vision is for NDAA to become the stepping stone of budding digital artists to establish international careers and help put the Philippines’s digital creative industry on the global map.
Soriano believes talented individuals can even start their own little business in the comfort of their homes. He said influential names in the technology industry and how some of them—Bill Gates and Steve Jobs—started their careers in their house’s garage, only to become the founders of tech giants Microsoft and Apple, respectively, later on.
Soriano advised Filipino youngsters with an eye and talent for digital creativity to “level up” and “power up” and don’t allow themselves to “just be there.” With NDAA’s support, these individuals can “reach for the stars” and pursue their creative ambitions. Competitions like NDAA also help young artists to hone their craft and learn from their mistakes. Eventually, these aspiring artists will be competitive enough to get lucrative results out of their skills and stand among renowned creatives in the industry.
NDAA 2017 carries the #changeisherenow tagline, with the entries’ theme centering on the possible advancements the Philippines has attained by 2038. Soriano said that NDAA 2017’s contribution and advocacy is to get more recognition for the Philippines and create more job opportunities in digital content. The contest has three major categories: Digital Art in Print, Animation & Motion Graphics and Digital Games, and is open to both students and professionals.
NDAA 2017 was re-launched alongside CITEM’s CREATE Philippines, the first international creative industry trade event in the country. CREATE Philippines will be held from October 20 to 22 and will showcase the creative sector’s huge influence over the country’s economic growth and export sector.
For more information about NDAA 2017, visit www.ndaa.globaltronics.net or their Facebook page @NDAAPhilippines.