Carlos Celdran

Who is Carlos Celdran?

John Charles Edward "Carlos" Pamintuan Celdran is a Filipino tour guide, cultural activist, and performing artist.

Growing up in Dasmariñas Village, Makati, Philippines, he began his art career at age 14 as a cartoonist for a local Manila newspaper. He enrolled at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1991, where he studied and practiced performance art. After university, he moved to New York City, where he lived an openly bisexual lifestyle. It was there that he first witnessed the effect of HIV on the queer community, which eventually led to his reproductive health activism in the Philippines. He continued his career in the performing arts, interning as a production assistant with the Blue Man Group and later working for other performing arts groups as a set designer and/or director. By 2000, Celdran was working as an assistant directors of the Heritage Conservation Society, a non-profit organization working towards preserving historical architecture. There he gained experience in directing historical tours, which set the stage for the launch of his own tour company "Walk This Way" in 2002. In 2005 he became the owner/director of an art exhibition space called "The Living Room".