Summer was no off-school season for Prof. Steven Patrick C. Fernandez, DFA, who travelled from one program to the next to teach artists and teachers nationwide.

Fernandez, Artistic Director of the Institute’s Integrated Performing Arts Guild (IPAG) and a Professor of the College of Arts and Social Sciences (CASS), toured education hubs to offer his expertise on cultural and art studies.

After lecturing on Philippine Theatre to Literature teachers from around the country at the Holy Name University in Tagbilaran, Bohol last March (see related story), Fernandez as Visiting Professor taught a course on the Pedagogies of Cultural Education at the Bulacan Arts, Culture, and History Institute (BACH) of the Bulacan State University in Malolos in mid-April.

He immediately flew back to the MSU-IIT where he oversaw as Pedagogue the conduct of his brainchild, the Mindanao Directing Workshop. From April 30 to May 11, the course graduated 16 new directors trained to ensure Mindanao’s dynamic performing arts practice.

Earlier in April 20, about a hundred students from the Central Mindanao State University in Bukidnon bussed to Iligan to listen to Fernandez lecture on the Humanities.

Meanwhile, Fernandez joined a core group of cultural experts in Manila who fine-tuned the post-baccalaureate Cultural Education Diploma Program, an initiative of the Philippine Cultural Education Plan of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA).

Capping the summer was the 19th edition of the reputable Iligan National Writers Workshop (INWW) where Fernandez and two other Creative Writing stalwarts from the IIT shared their expertise to 19 Fellows selected from over a hundred applicants nationwide. Members of the panel of the 19th INWW held May 14 to 18 at the Elena Tower Inn included its Founder Dr. Christine Godinez-Ortega, DFA, and poet Prof. German V. Gervacio who joined seven of the country’s most eminent writers.

The Cultural Education, Directing, and Writing Workshop programs were NCCA projects implemented with partners MSU-IIT, IPAG, and the Mindanao Creative Writing Group.

Topics : ipag