In my final Fall
quarter of 2011 at UCLA, I am very excited to do my theatre internship at SIPA. “For over 36 years,
Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA), which is located in multi-ethnic
Historic Filipino town in Downtown Los Angeles, has served the impoverished
neighborhood as well as the greater Los Angeles Filipino American community
with mission-fueled passion and relatively little fanfare. SIPA continues to
provide health and human services as well as community economic development and
arts/cultural programs to the now diverse, multi-ethnic youth and families
residing in the area as well as Filipino Americans all over Los Angeles County”(
taken from SIPA’s website under its mission statement). I have had the great
privilege to work with SIPA on numerous occasions hosting their benefit dinners
to raise much-needed funds for the services that they provide for the Filipino
American community. I am aware of the work that they do not only for the
Filipino community but to all the ethnicities in their vicinity.
I have always
wanted to work more in depth with the Filipino community and when the
opportunity presented itself to personally spearhead an after school activity that uses theatre as a tool to
educate children about Philippine culture, I immediately proposed to the
Executive Director Joel Jacinto that I would love to be involved in any
capacity possible. I have been given the opportunity to develop, teach and
implement two creative dramatic classes for SIPA's after school program for
children. These two programs will be classified by age. The Young Artist Tier (
age 5-10 years old) and Pre-Teen/ Teen Artist Tier ( age 11-18). The children
will then be given the opportunity to apply the skills they have been taught as
they participate in a performance for the Philippine community during their
Christmas Presentation.
I hope to gain
valuable insight on how theatre can really help educate children and bring
communities together through the arts. Working with children has always been
something I have wanted to do and with this internship, I hope to learn through
the various lesson plans that I will create what the children really absorb and
then go back and reformulate the activities that I present so that I can
develop more cohesive and structured theatrical and educational games. Using
the theatrical skills I have learned as an actor from my professional
experience and applying all the theatrical academic concepts I have learned at
UCLA, I intend to create a program for children that inspires, motivate and
involves children in the Filipino
culture. This will hopefully help shape their identities as they grow to be
proud Filipino Americans here in the United States.
By using
Filipino vocabulary words through various sensory, movement, pantomime, improvisation
and characterization exercises to engage the children, I am hoping to expand
their knowledge of their rich Filipino heritage. It is important that children
of the new generation are exposed through a variety of stimulus particularly
play and community, so that they may be able to understand the values and
traditions of the Philippine culture.
Taking part in this internship will undoubtedly be a meaningful and
fulfilling experience that will help me apply all my academic knowledge in a
hands on environment where I have the capacity to affect and inspire young
minds that are searching and forming their personal identities in this ever
evolving, diverse world.
For inquires to join the program please contact Christine Calderon of SIPA at (213)382-1819 ext. 125. Classes begin on September 26, 2011. Mondays from 4-6pm or Wednesdays from 4-6pm.
Search to Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA) is located at:
Temple Gateway Youth & Community Center3200 West Temple Street
Los Angeles, CA 90026-4522
Historic Filipinotown
