Art, music, theatre and nature at School of the SEAs youth festival

CEBU, Philippines - “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”

This line from an artist describes what the young participants of the Bantayan Arts Festival were able to achieve during the culminating activity last April 22, which coincided with Earth Day.

The three-day ecologically themed festival gathered kids from schools all over the island. Classes on glass painting, silk screen painting, mandala writing, dream-catcher making, paper-cut art, theatre and music were held under a huge talisay tree on the beach, and in open-type huts. The venue was the School of the SEAs (SOS) in the seaside town of Sta. Fe, where students drew their inspiration from nature and Mother Earth.

“My vision is for environmental consciousness to be expressed via or through art,” says SOS owner Tony Oposa, a Harvard-trained environment lawyer who collaborated with Smart Communications, Inc. (SMART) and Earthday Network Philippines, Inc. (EDNPI) in bringing the festival to the island.

Gathered were 71 students, with two out-of-school youths, whose talent and good class standing enabled them to qualify for the workshop. “I’m so happy,” says a smiling Al Antonette Cheska, wiping her sweat after the theatre arts performance. The 11-year-old honor student from Bantayan Central Elementary School, a SMART partner school under the Smart Schools Program, also took part in glass painting, theatre and skin-diving sessions. “It’s really a great honor for me to be a part of the festival,” she says. “I will share this experience with my five-year-old brother and teach him to protect the environment.”

Her commitment to pay forward is shared by her mathematics teacher Carlos Andrino, who plans to integrate the daily meditation and affirmation into his classes.

“Meditation is a good way to start a class, to say a prayer so that my students will be ready to listen the whole day.”

Andrino says that kids are the best teachers when it comes to environmental awareness. “And teachers should be creative enough to raise the students’ consciousness.”

“If you want people to protect the environment, art is the medium,” says Binggirl Clemente of EDNPI, which managed the event. “And it is through this medium that there is so much outpouring of creativity,” she says.

“Kids are very artistic. They have the desire to learn and the hunger for new ideas,” Mai-mai Lorilla observes, while supervising her students during the glass painting class. 

Indeed, the festival unleashed a torrent of creative force and freed the kids’ imagination. They flew kites on the beach; they fashioned giant birds from paper and painted children soaring above storybook tropical forests.

But perhaps the greatest freedom the festival gave them was that from self-imposed barriers of fear and withdrawal.

“I used to feel inferior and shy. But now, I’m so proud of myself,” says Jeffrey Silaya, 17, of Sta. Fe National High School. Although previously recognized by his school as Artist of the Year, Silaya says he started the workshop with feelings of inadequacy, brought about by coming from a poor family. His grandmother is sending him to school.

Two of his paintings which portrayed colourful marine life, were bought by known arts patrons Bobby and Marian Aboitiz and by environmentalist Senator Miguel Zubiri.

While he acknowledges that the money from the sale of his paintings will help his family, Jeffrey believes his works are for a greater purpose and vision.

“This is my expression of love for nature. I want people to open their eyes to the beauty of our environment,” he says. “That is why I’m thankful to SOS, to my mentors and to SMART for this wonderful opportunity.”