Alberione Spirituality Centre (ASC) Tidings, Vol. VII, NO. 1, January 2019

St Pauls Institute of Communication Education (SPICE) formally inaugurated its podcast studio on November 28, making it possibly the first media school in the country and certainly in Mumbai, to have such a facility.

The blessing was carried out by Rev. Fr Varghese Gnalian, Provincial Superior, Society of St Paul, India, with Fr Sebastian E., Director General of the Apostolate and others in attendance. Fr Anil C Paul, SVD, who teaches and anchors the podcast module, was on hand to showcase some student work.

Rajesh Tahil, co-founder of Audiomatic.in, arguably India’s first and best podcast network, inaugurated the studio and later addressed the students on the subject of podcasts or internet radio. During his address, which was accompanied by a presentation of podcasts from audiomatic.in, Mr. Tahil spoke of the immense potential of audio and its role in media. “I am thrilled to be part of this event, and I congratulate St Pauls Institute of being ahead of the competition.’ He added that very few media schools can boast of a podcast module on its curriculum, and even fewer would set up a proper facility to enable students to master yet another arm of the media ecosystem.

On their part, the students listened attentively to what he had to say and then asked questions pertaining both to teaching of the module and trends within the field.

St Pauls Institute now has both television and audio facilities aimed at ensuring its students, particularly those undertaking its Post Graduate courses in Journalism, Advertising and Public Relations, go into the work place armed with an awareness of industry practices, in keeping with its promise to work with professionals at every level in delivering practical training as well as technical knowhow, while developing content that matches industry needs and standards.

It was a historic day on Monday, 26 November 2018 which also fell on the feast day of our founder, Blessed James Alberione, when 10 of the pioneer students of Alberione Institute of Communication Education (AICE), Iju-Lagos came out from the institute in flying colours, accompanied by their parents, guardians and well-wishers, to receive their certificates having successfully completed their training programmes and passed the prescribed examination.

The event began with the Holy Eucharist celebrated by Rt Rev Mons John Aniagwu, Episcopal vicar of the Archdiocese of Lagos who represented  Rt Rev Dr Alfred Aldewale Martin Archbishop of Lagos. The homilist, Fr Joe Eruppakkatt, General editor and a faculty member, extolled the virtues of the founder Blessed James Alberione and exposed how God used him for the specific apostolate in the Church to spread the Gospel message and values through the mass media and other forms of social communications.

Soon after the Mass everybody moved to the institute for the convocation and also the blessing of the newly added facilities. The convocation ceremony was held at the newly constructed Multi-purpose hall of the Institute.

In his opening remarks, the Director of the Institute, Fr Jikson Mullasseril welcomed all the dignitaries and congratulated the graduates who he described as pioneering students of the media institute. He emphasized in his address on the vision and mission of the institute and also appealed to the youth to choose AICE to pursue their professional media studies.  He assured all of them that they  will not only be empowered with the tools for a thrilling career in media, but also learn the fine art of value based, socially conscious and responsible media personnel. Fr Siji Jose, the coordinator of the Apostolate in Nigeria stressed in his address the importance of education and how important it is to pursue it at AICE. The Chairman of the occasion, Dr. Okafor, focused that education is key to human development and called on parents to ensure that their children acquire one skill or the other for the good of the society.

The high point of the convocation was the blessing and cutting of tape to formally open the Institute multi-purpose hall, new classrooms and a brand new multi-purpose studio, christened Psalm 100 Broadcasting Studio by the Episcopal Vicar General, Rt. Very Mons. John Aniagwu.

After awarding certificates to the deserving graduates of the Institute, Mons. Aniagwu praised the management of the Institute for providing modern equipment and facilities, especially the new broadcasting studio not only to enhance training but to benefit society. He said AICE is a clear testimony of a dream come true and encouraged parents, adults and youths to take advantage of what he called the miracle of Iju-Lagos and proudly hosted by the Lagos Archdiocese to acquire skills in journalism, creative writing and other technical aspects of media training and become useful to themselves, the Church and the larger society.

The vote of thanks was given by Rev Fr Gerard Tanko, SSP who appreciated all who turned out to witness this historic moment. The programme ended with refreshment for all.

This year, St Pauls Institute of Communication Education and Title Waves featured as added venues for the Tata Literature Live, a four-day festival that is easily among the largest in the country. Till last year, it featured at the NCPA and Prithvi Theatre in Juhu. This time, on November 17 and 18, it was also at Bandra, on our premises.

The Festival promised more than 100 sessions, plus workshops and performances, over the four days. At St Pauls, there were 28 sessions, spread between Title Waves and the Alberione Hall over two days. What an illustrious lineup it was. From Stephen Daldry, director of Netflix’s famous series The Crown, interviewed by theatre personality and trenchant critic Craig Brown, to Lionel Shriver, talking about her books, NDTV’s Ravish Kumar, in a panel discussion moderated by Dean of SPICE Carol Andrade, journalist Rajdeep Sardesai talking to Govindraj Ethiraj about Journalism in the Modi era, discussions, debates, straight talks and poetry readings, there was something for everyone.

Plus there were the workshops in the Title Waves Lounge. Editing the written word with Ferdinand Mount, putting a thriller together with Sabine Durrant, even one of the science of using foul language by Sabine Durrant.

And the turnout was equally astounding. As Anil Dharker, founder of the literature festival put it, “We thought there would be teething troubles and we wondered if people would come to the new venue. But everything went off so smoothly and the numbers who attended, as well as the quality of those who registered, quite floored us”.

Rich praise indeed with footfalls to match, with an estimated 600+ people visiting over the two days. At the time of this writing, the figures were not yet in. In marketing terms, and if the aim was to raise awareness of St Pauls Media Complex among Bandra-ites and even those who are not from here, it was a 100 per cent successful exercise.