About the Foundation:
Creative Image Foundation was founded by Toshihiko Uriu.
He first worked as a cameraman for television in 1988, but
was tasked to document the Food for the Hungry International.
He did a documentary film based on the life of the garbage
collectors in Smokey Mountain and Payatas.
After realizing the desperate living conditions in this area,
he decided to form a foundation that could help the children of Payatas and
Smokey Mountain reach their full potential.
Creative Image
Foundation has a set goal and vision; it was created to generate funds in order
to support creative projects for Payatas and Smokey Mountain.
But more than just the concept of dole out, he aimed for
something more.
Uriu wanted to focus on educating children how to maximize
their full potential.
The focus of Creative
Image Foundation is to hone the artistic talents of children.
The project has started to commence for the first theater
play production that was created through a rap musical play entitled BAKATA: (
Batang Kalye Makata)
This production featured the young talents from Payatas and
Smokey Mountain.
It also paved the way
for rap and beatbox music artists in Manila.
The 40 plus children from Payatas and Smokey Mountain have
been given professional theatre training so that they can present themselves
well.
The play was able to boost the confidence of the children; it
was able to get nominated in the Aliw Awards.
Aliw Awards is an award giving body that was created to guide
the Filipino audience to know the next local talents that are sure to become
influential in the coming years.
The children of Payatas and Smokey mountain who are in the
play have showed their prowess and skills, as a result the theater play was
able to win the award of Best Production of Children in a Musical Play.
It was
also able to bag the nomination for Best Child Performer under the name of Ivan
Batar, one of the stars of the play.
The project was funded by Toshihiko Uriu and the theater show
was presented free for the public at TIU theater.
Apart from the BAKATA theater play, TIU theatre is also
providing free musicals and concerts at TIU.
Classical music like Good Ole Classics and other projects
that involve Ethnic Tribal music from groups like Adrinka Lumads Djembe
Community and Paul Zialcita are given every month at TIU.
What are the ongoing projects?
A part of what I do is to observe what is going on inside
Non-government organizations such as this.
I took the time to visit TIU theater to check on the current
progress of the place.
Social media is one way to inform and involve people in worth
projects.
I visited TIU and was amazed to know that a professional
music teacher has been hired to teach the 33 kids of Payatas and Smokey Mountain
how to sing correctly.
Everest Montero Castaneda was hired by TIU to provide singing
workshops for the children.
The usual rate for this types of workshops range from 7,000
and above and are not even provided in public schools of the Philippines.
TIU theater has managed to create a way for less fortunate
children to get a chance to improve on their singing skills.
The 33 children who signed up for the free workshops are
being taught how to handle themselves well on stage while singing.
They are trained together with musical accompaniment like
piano, the children are also being taught to play the violin and many other
musical instruments.
The Children of Payatas and Smokey Mountain are being taught
well.
Apart from the voice lessons, they are also being taught to
interact with each other, to learn how they too could one day teach voice
lessons to others.
In fact, the foundation created by Uriu is now enabling the
children to have their own livelihood when they grow up.
Opportunities to perform, and learn how good they could be are
the main lessons of the program.
The teacher Everest Castaneda reports on the progress of the
children.
In just 3 weeks, they were able to maximize their training.
According to her, the children are not hard to teach, they absorb information
easily and they are grateful for the opportunity presented to them.
The children are being taught proper breathing, intonation,
proper posture and scaling as part of the lessons.
Apart from the skills being taught, the teacher is also
providing them with theories and explanation for each of the skills learned.
It is a full program and the skills the children have learned
in here would help them prepare for the next stage in life.
“Masarap turuan ang mga bata na ito”- according
to her.
During the interview, Castaneda stated that the creativity
and singing prowess of Filipinos is something that defies logic.
A lot of Asian countries can learn a thing or two about the
skills of Filipinos on how to sing and project, we as Filipinos have something
to share with the world.
And the projects that are being started by TIU are geared
towards this, to showcase the talents of Asians, not just for Filipinos alone.
Japanese artists visit the theater to provide free shows that
everyone can watch. In order for the shows to remain free, they are being
opened for sponsorships from various companies like UNIQLO.
Art appreciation is something that can be taught and TIU
theater is helping this dream turn into reality.
TIU theater is an avenue for different forms of art and music
appreciation and it has to be supported in order for it to grow.
With only a year and a half in its operation, it is already making big progress.
The workshops are in progress, and eventually the children
would be the ones to portray the musical concertos inside the theater.
One day the students under this program, will also be able to
educate and inspire others too.
TIU theater is located at Mile Long Compound on Amorsolo St.
Makati.
(c) TIU theater official FB page
(c) Homer Oclares