THE UST Philets and Artlets Alumni Association, Inc. will kick off the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Faculty of Arts and Letters (AB) with an event that will gather and promote collaborations among Thomasians from different generations.
Carrying the theme “A Tradition of Excellence: UST Philets and Artlets since 1896 to 2024,” the gathering will be held on Thursday, Oct. 10, at the Roma Salon in Manila Hotel. Several alumni of AB and the defunct Faculty of Philosophy and Letters and different media organizations are expected to attend the event.
The milestone event launch will introduce a general lineup of activities, including academic-related fora, a photo exhibit chronicling the journey of Philets and Artlets and a fundraising campaign for the association’s future projects.
UST Philets and Artlets Alumni Association, Inc. president Henry Tenedero said the launch would mark the beginning of more continuous cooperation between the alumni of the two faculties despite coming from different generations.
“[S]o you can say that history defines the current and then it also projects the future. So it’s good for you to know the current generation. But now… we don’t want to focus only on the current generation of Artlets because Artlets are the children of Philets, historically speaking,” he told The Flame.
The organization, Tenedero said, also aims to honor its well-respected alumni members who belong to what he called a “dying generation.”
“There are a lot of [Philets] national artists and prominent society people who were all products of AB… But the fact remains that Philets as an organization, if I may use the term, is a dying generation by virtue of age,” Tenedero said.
“Just recently, the president of Philets, Mitos Araneta, just passed on. But there are still a lot of people who are still alive. Personally, I don’t want them to be forgotten in this celebration,” he added.
A gala night will be held on March 1 in the same venue with the theme “From Pen to Pixels: Honoring the Past, Embracing the Future,” to highlight the faculty’s transition to the digital age.
A thematic concert, co-organized by the Artlets Student Council, will also be staged for both Artlets students and alumni.
The Faculty of Philosophy and Letters was established in 1896. The academic unit was renamed to Faculty of Arts and Letters after it was merged with the College of Liberal Arts in 1964. F — Rachelle Anne Mirasol
