For his invaluable services and social contributions provided to the department of Santander through the actions and strategies developed to perpetuate the theater in the department and provide tools for the development of the arts to future professionals of the Universidad Industrial de Santander, the Departmental Assembly conferred the highest order ‘Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento’ to the master Omar Álvarez Vera, director of Teatro UIS.
The recognition was made under Resolution No 055 of 2022 of the departmental duma, which approved the initiative promoted by the deputy Pedro Leonidas Gómez Gómez, who stressed that the teacher has spent a lifetime dedicated to the theater and deserves to be exalted for the work performed in this field.
Omar Álvarez Vera, director of the UIS Theater, has a career of more than 40 years of continuous theatrical work, specialized in directing, but also works as an actor and scenic designer. He has directed and staged more than 50 plays of national and international repertoire and has also promoted Santander’s dramaturgy, bringing to the stage unpublished works of regional playwrights.
He was founder and director of Teatro Libre de Bucaramanga, in 1975, and Teatro Arte de Bucaramanga, in 1981. The latter group was the most outstanding group in the department of Santander until its dissolution in 2000.
Since March 2000, he has been the Artistic Director of Teatro UIS, the official theater group of the Universidad Industrial de Santander, a group that leads the theater movement in the city. Additionally, he is a Master in Fine Arts, graduated from UIS.
During the award ceremony, Maestro Álvarez Vera was accompanied by members of the UIS Theater group as well as administrative staff and friends of the University, who together with the members of the Assembly applauded and congratulated the maestro for this recognition of his work.
“For me it is a pride to know that all these years since 1974 to date really the work that has been done in communities with young people trying somehow that people understand that the arts are not for certain types of people but for everyone, it is a right of the whole community and I think that having worked on that and be receiving the order is a satisfaction and I think it is the recognition of all these years of work and one thinks he is alone but there are people who are watching him,” said Alvarez Vera.
Finally note that the order Luis Carlos Galán Sarmiento was created by ordinance No. 082 of 1996, in which the Departmental Assembly of Santander pays tribute and admiration and publicly exalts the virtues of individuals or institutions that contribute to the progress and development of the Department.
