Alumni

Applying Knowledge and Experience from
IATSS Forum & Paying Forward to Community

Message from Alumni

Mr. Mauro Ariel S.R. Yonzon

The IATSS Forum fellowship/training has been a most significant development in my career. It offered me, then, back in 2001, a glimpse of various leadership principles, as can be gleaned in the rich history of Japan (as a society, in general) and Honda (the Forum’s benefactor company, as a corporate entity). It also exposed me to cultures across the participating ASEAN countries. Upon my return to my Country, the lessons I learned, and insights gained advanced my career, from Division Chief, to Department Manager, in just 2 years after. Whereas, I used to supervise but a handful of staff; I now manage over 32 full-time personnel and oversee more than 150 technical theater and front of house hires in the 7 various theaters I manage.

With confidence gained from my exposure to the IATSS Forum, the alumni network and my current membership in the Philippine National Committee, I have spearheaded the formation of a Performing Arts Spaces Association in 2018; a cohesive group of theater owners and managers that are now in the forefront of lobbying for the protection of rights and welfare of performing artists, technical theater practitioners and other creatives; most critical, as we now deal with a pandemic that has wreaked havoc on our live entertainment and tourism industry. The Forum, as it helped mold me to the kind of leader and policymaker I am today, would most certainly, manage to mold the next generation of leaders as it forges ahead in years to come.

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