Stage director and playwright Chris Millado was introduced recently as the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ new vice president and artistic director.
“I am thrilled and excited to be given the opportunity to work with the best artists and arts managers in the country,” Millado said. “I joined the Cultural Center of the Philippines in 1986 at a time when the Center was undergoing a profound reorientation.”
One of the first projects he handled was to bring CCP artists and resident companies outside Metro Manila in a Cultural Caravan to celebrate People Power. Ballet dancers from the CCP, together with artists and cultural workers performed on flatbed trucks before fisherfolk in Binangonan, Rizal and other areas usually not reached by cultural performances.
“My interest has been how to open up the productions of CCP, broaden its audiences to include underserved communities while maintaining the excellence and artistry that it has been known for. I’m also interested in exploring ways in which CCP could achieve a stronger online presence wherein it could provide access to its materials and create compelling digital platforms that can be accessed by the world wide web.”
According to Millado, CCP’s vision is to make art matter to the life of every Filipino.
“We program for the broadest audiences, showcase the best artists and products of this generation in music, theater, dance, literature, cinema, visual arts, multimedia. Provide a venue for the creation of new works and provide new contexts for traditional forms. Although we are situated in Manila, we aspire to reach audiences in the whole archipelago by being more aggressive with our outreach programs and tapping new technologies to broaden the reach. I see the Artistic Mission of the CCP focusing on four areas: Artistic Excellence, Filipino Aesthetics, Arts Education and Complex Development.”
He likewise outlined the Center’s other artistic projects for the rest of 2011 and beyond.
Millado used to head the CCP’s Performing Arts Department and acted as Officer-in-Charge of the CCP Marketing Department. He oversees the programming of the whole artistic season of the Center and its resident companies, among them, Tanghalang Pilipino, Ballet Philippines, Philippine Ballet Theater, Philippine Madrigal Singers, Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group, Bayanihan Philippine National Folk Dance Company, the UST Symphony Orchestra, the National Music Competitions for Young Artists and the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra.
He has curated some of the CCP’s festivals as well. An accomplished stage director and playwright, his works have been produced in Manila (Philippine Educational Theater Association, Actors Actors Inc., Tanghalang Pilipino), San Francisco (Teatro ng Tanan, Theater Yugen), Chicago (Pintig Theater Collective), Hawaii (Hawaii Alliance for Philippine Performing Arts, Kumu Kahua Theater, Kennedy Theater UH Manoa, Waipahu Plantation Village), and New York (May-i Theater, Juilliard School).
A graduate from the Theater Arts Program at the University of the Philippines, Millado earned his Masters degree in Performance Studies from New York University through a Fulbright Hayes scholarship. He has taught courses in Theater Arts, Performance Studies, and Philippine Studies at the Ateneo de Manila University, the University of the Philippines, Leeward Community College and the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He served as Artistic Directorof the PETA Kalinangan ensemble.
He spearheaded the organization of Filipino-American theater companies in the US. He also served as Associate Artistic Director of the Tanghalang Pilipino. He has been a recipient of the Rockefeller residency in Bellagio, Italy; a fellow to the Salzburg Global Seminar on the Performing Arts and currently a Fellow of the DeVos Institute for Arts Management at the Kennedy Center of the Performing Arts in Washington DC.
