Cover U-Go and Galeria Paloma join hands to help young women through an art auction (Photo: Ayala Foundation, Inc.)
U-Go and Galeria Paloma join hands to help young women through an art auction (Photo: Ayala Foundation, Inc.)
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Proceeds from ‘The Gallery of Giving’ auction and exhibition will go to U-Go, helping young women and their educational needs
Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data from 2022 to 2023 suggests that 18.6 per cent of children aged five to 24 are out-of-school youth. Some struggle with post-secondary or college education and financial costs, while others cite employment, lack of personal interest, and marriage as primary reasons. U-Go, the Ayala Foundation’s scholarship arm, is one of the many NGOs helping with the cause, offering grants to deserving young women who struggle financially and empowering them towards education and emerging markets. For this year’s Women’s Month, they partnered with Galeria Paloma to help their beneficiaries.
Joining forces has led Galeria Paloma to mount an exhibition and online auction titled ‘The Gallery of Giving’. Interested art collectors and enthusiasts can view the lots at ArtistSpace, Makati City, from March 13 to 26. The online auction, on the other hand, runs from March 16 to April 10 at galeriapaloma.com/auction. Proceeds will be donated to the Ayala Foundation.
Why U-Go, and why education? “I believe—and am very much aligned with the Ayala Foundation’s vision—that access to education could be a meaningful equaliser for Filipinos,” senior vice president for leasing and hospitality of Ayala Land, Inc and global board director of U-Go Mariana Zobel de Ayala shares. “I’m excited by the possibilities of what quality education can bring, not just for women in the country, not just for their families and communities, but also in bringing the most empowered economy forward.”
More from Tatler: Opening New Doors: U-Go Initiative Takes Underprivileged Women to School
U-Go scholars (Photo: Ayala Foundation, Inc.)
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“And on an even more personal note, I’m someone who has benefited from an education without costs,” confesses Zobel de Ayala. “So for me, it’s significant to pay that forward and give other women the same freedom that I felt as I explored my educational opportunities. So it means a lot to be able to be here with you all today.”
U-Go offers financial assistance for high-potential and motivated Filipino women who are enrolled at state colleges and universities to help keep them in school to finish their degrees and increase the possibilities of their meaningful participation in the labour market. This helps open up further opportunities and benefits, not only to their families but also to communities and the economy.
“We are proud to be in the communities of 410 women that have been awarded U-Go scholarships so far,” she continues. “Our aim is to more than double that in the next few years, and this is a very special opportunity by Galeria Paloma that will help us make that dream a reality.”
Related: Art in the Park returns this March with over 60 exhibitors
‘Georgia Lily’ by Julie Lluch (Photo: Galeria Paloma)
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Both the auction and exhibition boast works of art, objets d’art, and jewellery by renowned Filipino masters as well as notable contemporary artists and designers. Familiar and renowned artists like Julie Lluch and Onib Olmedo, as well as esteemed contemporary artists such as National Artist for Music Ryan Cayabyab, Soler Santos, Bjorn Calleja, CCP Thirteen Artists awardee Ernest Concepcion, Carina Santos, Isabel Echevarria, Lina Llaguno-Ciani, Aba Dalena, Martin and Barbie Honasan, Basti Artadi, Sarah de Veyra-Buyco, and Hamill Buyco, Carlos, among many others, make up the roster of featured artists.
A section will be composed of notable digital artists like Luis Buenaventura, Skye Nicolas, AJ Dimarucot, and Isaiah Cacnio, with another section featuring emerging artists.
Esteemed sculptor Julie Lluch, known for her feminist themes and distinctive, powerful point-of-view on the female experience in her pieces, presents in ‘Georgia Lily’, a homage to feminist artist and icon Georgia O’Keeffe. Also present is Onib Olmedo’s ‘The Widow’, previously exhibited at the artist’s retrospective at the Ayala Museum, among many others.
“As a gallery run by three women directors, whose mother was once a gallery director herself but found her calling as a steadfast educator, U-Go was a cause that we knew we could champion from the start,” says Kimberly Rocha-Delgado, co-director of Galeria Paloma. “We are very grateful to U-Go for allowing us to contribute to the cause by doing what we do.”
The auction will be conducted online at galeriapaloma.com/auction until April 10, 2024. Interested bidders are encouraged to visit the exhibition at ArtistSpace from March 13 to March 26.
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Angela Nicole Regis Guiral is a digital editor at Tatler Philippines. She studied journalism and has since written features that look closely at how culture, lifestyle and social impact converge, while occasionally wandering into the worlds of style and travel.
