With its vision to be the leading global network of authentic, creative, and empowered certified voice artists, the Certified Voice Artist Program (CVAP) Batch 8 began its very first online meeting via Zoom on Saturday, July 10. The Program's latest season was joined by a total of 114 participants composed of several staff and enrollees from different locations, not only in the Philippines but also from other countries, making this batch apart from previous batches for having the highest number of participants in the history of CVAP as of today.
This only shows how CVAP became prominent in having its objective to provide accessible quality voice training to bring out the best in every aspiring and experienced voice artist while they're home amidst a pandemic. Not only to have developmental opportunities but also to allow one to see this field as art and a platform for positive societal changes are the things CVAP is praised for.
Richard "The Rich Voice'' Abalos, the program's host, was joined by Mr. Jeff Perey, the Assistant Program Director, and Ms. Charissa "VoiServant'' Sampang of CVAP Batch 7 as a co-host in welcoming the new batch of aspiring voice artists. To begin the meeting, the hosts chose a few people to introduce themselves. With the diversity of the participants' backgrounds, it summed up the entire batch, where portions of the overflowing attendees are already professionals in various fields, some are students, and others have already established a name and are aware of the taste of fame due to the success of their previous projects.
Moreover, a video presentation that shows a glimpse of experiences from the alumni of the program was shown to bring inspiration for those participants who still have anxieties and fear towards the decision they made. The CVAP graduates' current achievement will continue to serve as proof in their testimonials, as they enthusiastically expressed that they had experienced personal development by actively participating in each CVAP session. They are looking forward to the newest round of aspirants building themselves while experiencing the same things they did.
Upon the instruction of a few reminders and voice rules by the hosts, soon the workshop started, providing points to level up the expectations of the participants in the Voice Acting industry. At exactly 10:00 AM, Ms. Pau "Aivoice '' Castillo, a digital marketing specialist, CVAP Batch 1 graduate, and an official CVAP trainer stands as the first speaker of the workshop. Aivoice gave participants the explanation of the key points about Voice Branding and the Introduction to CVAP Culture. These topics assigned to her highlight CVAP for possessing a culture of giving, loving, sharing, and caring where she testifies that most of the CVAP graduates were easily recognized in the Voice Acting industry due to the values and learnings instilled in their community. Her testimony adds fuel to the burning inspiration of the audience where Aivoice shared that before joining the CVAP, she had problems on how to carry herself in front of people, how to fix her train of thought and how to avoid stuttering while talking. However, she is solid evidence on how CVAP can help an aspirant to be the best version of themselves.
Aivoice's presentation was followed by a 10-minutes talk by the Program Director, Nickie "Voicing Queen" Esmero. She congratulated all the participants and told a little history of CVAP's humble beginnings with recognition to the VoiceMaster, Pocholo De Leon Gonzales. In one of her messages, the Voicing Queen advises the participants that it is alright to experience loss because the most important thing is our steps to move forward. "Let go of the things that are actually lost," she said.
After the facilitated presentation of some reputable speakers, at around 11:00 AM, the workshop properly kicked off, allowing the VoiceMaster himself to take charge of the microphone until 12:30 in the afternoon. His almost two hours of appearance in the program truly motivated the audience as he brought with him some notable 'Pochologies'. Some of those are as follows :
"Who we are is a creation of a story told to us.",
"The best time to believe in yourself is when no one believes in you.",
"Learn how to love your voice first. Our voice is a gift from God and it's not just a gift but also our choice.",
and "Success is nothing if you don't share it."
The VoiceMaster also showed them an ABS-CBN documentary from 2015 that features him as an artist, motivational speaker, youth advocate, and paradigm of success. The said documentary moved the audience to start ignition on what they love.
Meanwhile, the afternoon session was filled with enjoyment and learning as the 'Online Kumustahan' took off. Prior to this, the audience was amazed as they surprisingly saw Kathleen Kaye Sone, at the meeting, a professional voice artist, also known as the Voice Over Flowers. Her surprise visit hyped up the afternoon where the audience requested her to perform some of her famous commercial scripts. They even asked her some questions, and Voice Over Flowers kiddingly gave her answers through imitating the Filipino Google Voice.
On the other hand, the 'Kumustahan' Session divides the participants into several breakout rooms, it is the most important portion of the afternoon session as each participant will have the chance to introduce himself/herself to their group mates with their initial task to get to know each other and provide reasons why they joined the program. At around 3:30 in the afternoon, the skills and talents of the participants emerge as each group shines in their own strategic and creative way of presenting it. Afterward, week one ended its meeting with the last reminders and assignments to be accomplished throughout the whole CVA Program duration.
The online-based workshop was moderated by the collaborative effort of the staff of the Voice Acting Academy Philippines, the CreatiVoices Productions, as well as the help of CVAP alumni. It will run for about 4 - 5 weeks from July 10, and in the end, a graduation ceremony will be held in recognition of the participants’ hard work and perseverance in accomplishing their tasks to be a Certified Voice Artist.