The Guang Ming Institute of Performing Arts building. / Immae Lachica
CEBU CITY, Philippines – Cebuanos will now have a suitable place to hone their talents in performing arts for free and under the close watch of experts from the Guang Ming Institute of Performing Arts.
A building that will be devoted for their use was opened this morning inside the compound of the Fo Guang Shan Chu Un Temple located along V. Rama Avenue in Cebu City. The four-storey structure has a dance hall, rehearsal areas for their corale and a theatre.
The building’s soft opening was timed with the temple’s 30th year anniversary here in the Philippines.
Ven Yung Guang (fifth from left) led the soft opening of the Guang Ming Institute of Performing Arts building held this morning, March 10. /Immae Lachica
Operating the Guang Ming Institute of Performing Arts was the Fo Guang Shan community’s way of helping Cebuanos who show their potential in the performing arts, said Junrey Alayacyac, executive officer of Guang Ming Institute of Performing Arts.
Alayacyac said Ven Master Hsing Yun thought of opening their performing arts schools when they started to look for talents in 2017, who could perform in their Siddhartha musical, which they later on brought to Taiwan.
“It all started when Ven Master Hsing Yun had a dream of building a performing arts school here in Cebu because during that time an all Cebuano musical play, Siddhartha the musical, was produced and it was then brought to Taiwan. It was then that the head monastic of the Fo Guang Shan community discovered that a lot of Filipinos are really talented, so (he thought) why not support them by building a school to further their education in performing arts?”
Alayacyac told Cebu Daily News Digital that their search for Cebuano talents widened with the building construction which commenced in 2017. While the construction was ongoing, they started to hold auditions at the already completed portions of the structure during the early part of 2018.
Their first formal training which consisted of 60 scholars took place from June to December 2018.
The second batch of 150 scholars started training in October 2018 and will complete their sessions this March 2019.
Alayacyac said they offer four programs – the corale, dance company, san hao theatre and Siddhartha – at their performing arts schools.
Their scholars are made to attend a graduation ceremony that serves as the culmination activity of their five to six months of training program.
Alayacyac said that scholars who complete their training program are assured to have an edge over their competitors when they start to look for employment opportunities in the industry. /dcb