CULMINATION. National Commission for Culture and the Arts Deputy Executive Director Marichu Tellano (center) with Fr. Tito Soquiño (2nd from right), vice president for Student Affairs and External Relations of Colegio San Agustin-Bacolod; and Tanya Lopez (2nd from left), president of West Visayas Museum Association Inc., pose for a photo during the culmination ceremony for the HANAS: Scholarship Program in Culture and the Arts. With them during the event held at the CSA-Bacolod auditorium on Saturday (Aug. 10, 2019) are some of the HANAS scholars. (Photo courtesy of PIA-Negros Occidental)
BACOLOD CITY -- Some 1,500 student-artists, cultural workers and other participants from Negros Island attended the workshops, lectures, seminar and forums offered under HANAS: Scholarship Program in Culture and the Arts in the past eight months.
Funded by a PHP4-million grant from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), HANAS was initiated by the West Visayas Museum Association (WVMA), Inc. and Colegio San Agustin (CSA)-Bacolod.
Fr. Tito Soquiño, vice president for Student Affairs and External Relations of CSA-Bacolod, said they are proud that through this project, the various programs and projects of the NCCA that were implemented in Negros Island were sustained and interconnected.
“For us, this is a pioneering project that tapped the expertise of the international, national, regional and local artists and cultural caregivers as resource persons and the convergence of thousands of next generation of artists, educators and cultural workers,” Soquiño said during the culmination ceremony held at the school auditorium on Saturday.
He acknowledged the support of the NCCA through Deputy Executive Director Marichu Tellano, who is also an alumna of CSA-Bacolod.
For her part, Tellano said that with the success of the HANAS scholarship program, the NCCA sees a more dynamic and vibrant culture and arts scene in Negros.
Soquiño also expressed his gratitude to WVMA headed by president Tanya Lopez, executive director of The Negros Museum, for serving as conduit for the project.
Of the more than 1,500 scholars, a total of 121 participants received their certificates of completion for being able to finish 120 hours of workshops in three weeks in six tracks, including film, dance, theater, museology, weaving and creative curriculum. The rest of the participants received certificates of attendance.
Since December last year, HANAS has conducted 63 workshops, lectures, seminar, and forums attended by students and teachers of CSA-Bacolod, and other schools as well as cultural workers, “patadyong” weavers and museum staff from various communities.
The other participants came from the University of St. La Salle, Carlos Hilado Memorial State University, cities of Bacolod, Bago, La Carlota, Kabankalan, Silay, Sagay, towns of Murcia and Valladolid in Negros Occidental, Bayawan City in Negros Oriental, provinces of Siquijor, Cebu, and Iloilo.
About 20 inmates of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology Metro Bacolod District Jail-Male Dormitory Annex, also underwent an integrated theater arts workshop for the creation of their own mask theater guild.
Rudy Reveche, executive and workshop pedagogy director of HANAS, said he hopes the new knowledge and skills acquired, and the friendships made by the participants and trainors would inspire and guide them to come up with new ideas, solutions, platforms and advocacies that would preserve, promote, and sustain the cherished Christian values and Filipino heritage.
“We are the warriors for the environment, arts and cultural caregivers, and peace advocates for our nation and for the planet we live in,” he added. (PNA)
