From July 7 to 9 2023, the flagship pop-culture event TOYCON 2023 returned to the second floor of the SMX Convention Center, Pasay in Pasay City, drawing fans, collectors, designers and creative-talent across the Philippines and the region. For the team at De La Salle–College of Saint Benilde, the convention offered a high-visibility platform to present student outputs from the Game Design & Development, Multimedia Arts, Animation and Industry Design (Toy Design) programmes—reinforcing the institution’s role as a thought-leader in creative-and-digital education.
Benilde’s participation underscored the synergy between academic disciplines and the commercial/pop-culture ecosystem: student-designed toys, game mock-ups, animated pieces and multimedia installations were displayed alongside collectors’ items and industry exhibitors, inviting a wide crowd of enthusiasts and industry stakeholders. For faculty and students alike, the event enabled direct audience engagement, peer feedback, and real-world exposure to design and marketing dynamics in the pop-culture space.
From a broader perspective, the TOYCON platform also demonstrates how academic institutions can act as bridges between creativity, industry and community. By bringing student work into a public venue frequented by collectors, designers and fellow creators, Benilde helps to validate creative work as both culturally meaningful and economically viable. The convention thus becomes more than a display—it becomes a workshop, a networking forum and a proving ground for future-creative professionals.
In short, through its long-standing involvement in ToyCon, Benilde not only celebrates student creativity, but positions its programmes within the larger trajectories of pop culture, innovation and design entrepreneurship—marking this edition of TOYCON 2023 as a clear milestone for the institution’s creative disciplines.
