Artists of different sorts have continued to reign in Cebu’s local scene for more than a decade. These homegrown talents from the same Bisaya roots continue to make names for themselves and their respective crafts, shining a spotlight on the fields of music, theater, and film, to name a few.

Filipina singer and actress Anna Fegi-Brown, recognized by her powerful voice, high vocal range, and trademark curly hair, established her own academy for the arts of performance—the Brown Academy for Music with her beau, Adam Brown, who is both a musician and a music educator from the United states.
Anna is well known for her appearances in international and national stages, a long way from her humble beginnings with auditioning for Ryan Cayabyab for a pop group. It has always been her dream to establish a music school to give everyone equal chances to learn about music.
“We planned BAM while performing abroad in 2014 and 2015 and came back to Cebu in August 2015 to start putting everything in place from scouting locations to early marketing and hiring faculty members,” shares Anna.
The musician pair’s dream academy opened in early 2016 where they started off with about 9 staffers and had 40-50 students enrolled. Its headquarters were at the Northgate Centre in Banilad. It was a truly a far cry from today’s 260 talented students serenading the metro with oozing musical talent.

All the while performing abroad, Anna and Adam would plan out everything for the school from the curriculum down to the classroom setups. They took time to iron out everything and gather enough resources to establish the academy, plus having the opportunity to travel to nearly 60 different countries, which then became their inspiration when setting up the school.
“In two and a half years, our enrollment has gone up 650%, our faculty size has almost doubled, and the size of the school has tripled,” shares Anna of her talent-developing Academy. Just last year, Anna shares that a lot of her students’ parents kept requesting dance classes since they were already enrolling their children in voice lessons. Outsourcing local talent Monica Orellano of the Knapsack Dancers was a big step for them to take to develop their Academy.
Brown Academy of Music (BAM) has taught over 1,500 students since opening its doors in January 2016. Age truly doesn’t matter when it comes to enhancing your talent as their students range from just over a year old to those all the way up to 70 years old. With over 10 major culminating shows, there have been over 850 talents performing on stage.
“One of our long-range goals is that the music scene in Cebu is recognized as an equal to Manila. It would be nice that one day, artists have the option to stay and perform in Cebu rather than having to leave in order to make a living,” shares Anna.
When asked about their major strength, the dynamic duo highlights how they bring their own experience in performing into the school. Teaching music is not just a hobby for her and her husband, aside from it being their area of expertise, it continues to be their passion for over a decade now.
“When we are in front of the students and teaching them, we have been in their shoes as students and as young performers on stage,” Anna muses.

Passing on the talent and skills, the Academy’s Elite BAMStars, is a group who auditions every year to get in and a group that the duo personally and directly produces. The students have also had the chance to perform in shows with major stars both locally and internationally, with whom they have shared lasting experiences and insights with, having a glimpse of the showbiz industry.
Sharing the Academy’s pride, Anna shares that it continues to exist with the aim of bringing true music education to Cebu. Providing the highest quality music education, based upon the fundamentals of music, wherein students would be able to find their own voice, nurturing their creativity and artistry is what makes the Brown Academy of Music live on.
The vision to create a world-hub of music education that enhances the music and arts community of Cebu and elevates the local community on the national level has been the root of everything the Browns have gone through to make the Academy possible. Creating melodies and speaking one’s heart out through music was is what BAM is trying to establish in Cebu, and in its 2nd year of existence, it continues to live on the dream, one stage at a time.
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