In celebration of the 20th anniversary of Benilde’s Multimedia Arts (MMA) program, the MMA department prepared a week-long culminating activity for the students with the theme “One to 20/20: Road to the Future” last July 22 to 26, 2019.



Photo by Fritz Reyes

Established in 1999, the pilot program of the New Media Cluster (NMC) opened doors to address the needs of an industry that focuses on creation and technology. This led to the establishment of other programs under NMC in De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) such as photography, digital filmmaking, and animation. 

In the opening remarks, New Media Cluster Associate Dean Ms. Sharon Arriola gave a glimpse of what students would look forward to the week’s celebration of the milestone for the MMA department. She also encouraged the students’ participation, “I’m certain that the conversations and exchanges of ideas will happen as we go through. [Partaking in] the activities would give us a clear picture and a direct understanding of what to anticipate in the future.”


Photo by Fritz Reyes

The MMA department showcased the creations of their students through exhibits and bazaars held on the 10th floor of the School of Design and Arts (SDA). Meanwhile, different seminars were also offered for students held in respective rooms at the SDA, and talks with the alumni were held at Angelo King International Center (AKIC) and Hotel Maison de La Salle. 

For fresh graduates and incoming interns, a job fair was also held wherein different companies looked for new creators to work with them. Most of all, the much-awaited Capstone plenary awards presented the chosen projects of the graduating MMA students at the SDA Theater on the last day. 


Photo by Fritz Reyes

Most of the projects this term centralized on indigenous tribe culture such as “Larong Agta” by Andrew John Tence and Kenneth Karlo Enriquez and “Hibla” by Marc Gabrielle Laurio on promoting textile fabrics. Other capstone projects include “PhilTrikes” by Phillip Victor Sido on the modernization of Philippine tricycles, “Philippines Unlocked” by Emma Paivinen on foreigners adapting to the Filipino culture and the winning capstone, “Kwentong Anino” by Reignel Delos Santos and Christine Villegas on using puppetry as a medium for education learning among children.


Photo by Ricardo Yan II

In an interview with The Benildean, MMA Chairperson Mr. Roy Nicolas Molon, Jr. highly commended the students for their creativity and originality which they show through their outputs.

“I’m continuously surprised by the outputs they produce on a daily basis. You can see that these students are very driven, creative, [and] very gifted at what they do,” he said. 


Photo by Fritz Reyes

He also shared what students would look forward to for the department in the next coming years as they open for better innovation towards technology such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR).

Despite aiming to expand the program for the next few years, he stated on teaching the students the essentials for the industry such as story conceptualization, creative originality, and ethical integrity.

Some well-known alumni of the MMA program include Filipino actor Dino Imperial, graphic designer and commercial model Selina Woo Bhang, and Filipino actress Yam Concepcion.