MANILA -- OPM romantic balladeer Christian Bautista is up for a reimagination.

This after he recently signed up with talent agency NYMA (Now You Must Aspire) and will now be jointly managed by NYMA and his long-time talent management agency Stages

“I’m so thankful to Stages for having me for the past 20 years,” Bautista told ABS-CBN News. “Thank you also to NYMA for having me. This collaboration will propel and prepare me for this new generation.”

“This year, there were many collaborations that happened. Even ABS-CBN and GMA 7 got together. Everyone is now working together towards a future full of wonderful content, wonderful direction and to really spread Filipino culture everywhere. That’s really my aim.”

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Bautista has worn many hats, initially as a singer after he emerged as runner-up in the first “Star in a Million” reality singing contest on ABS-CBN two decades ago.

Bautista has since become an actor, too, TV host and model. He made a name for himself and gained popularity not only in the Philippines, but also in Southeast Asia, notably in Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, thanks to his multi-platinum albums and the series “The Kitchen Musical,” with fellow artist Karylle and other Asian and Filipino talents in Singapore.

“We will explore whatever is new,” Bautista said. “The most important for someone who has been here for a while, I want to share what I learned to other creators or artists who want to share their talent to the world.”

Among the reasons why Bautista joined NYMA are its direction and strategy for his career. “I know I need to be in this digital space,” Bautista admitted. “So I’m so excited and so proud for the future.”

Bautista added: “I witnessed NYMA’s strategic, exponential growth and drive, especially in the digital space. I’m excited to learn more and dive in head first.

“I like the team’s energy and passion as they approach the entertainment industry both as a disruptor and collaborator.”

Bautista’s calendar of schedules that Stages used to manage, will now be shared with NYMA. “Bookings of Stages and bookings of NYMA will now go into the shared calendar,” he explained.

“NYMA is very collaborative. I like their energy and strategy, something that I’ve always been looking for.”

NYMA is a talent management, influencer management and production house. It is one of the brands under Kroma Enterainment, a tradigital entertainment company.

The agency’s head, Kat Bautista, is happy to have her husband on board as NYMA’s talent.

“The way we pick our talent is actually the NYMA team behind it,” Kat explained. “We sit down and brainstorm with our CEO [Ian Monsod]. The process is quite rigorous in deciding who are going to join. We also leave space for the artist’s output and talent.”

No matter how small NYMA’s pool of artists has at the moment, identifying and nurturing potential talents that will best fit NYMA are important to the team.

“NYMA’s vision is really focused talent management, so we pick our artists because we want to have a very small pool of artists that we’re able to focus on and nurture their dreams,” Kat said.

“The way we started was really identifying what people watch online, how they consider the Internet and we look at interest-based creatives.

“So when that happens, we want to partner with the top creatives in the industry – in food, home, music, art, sports. So that’s how we pick our talents.”

While NYMA’s original vision is to showcase Filipino talents, the company recently signed up Korean-American singer-songwriter-actor Eric Nam (co-managed with Enhyphen) and American singer-songwriter Jamie Miller.

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“The vision of NYMA is always to bring and still is to bring national our talents globally and that’s what we intend to do,” Kat informed. “I think it’s also important that we enrich the entertainment scene in the Philippines.

“A big part of our strategy is taking care of the fan clubs and making sure that they have access to their artists. The vision has always been the same, is to bring these amazing talents to international destination and make them household names.”

Kat insisted NYMA is heading not into a new direction, but more to an “evolving” direction.

The present roster of talents under NYMA are individuals who are expanding their careers in the tradigital space.

They include food content creator Abby Marquez, cycling advocate Lester “Buji” Babiera, the founder of First Bike Ride, and the founder of Home Buddies “Mayora” Frances Lim Cabatuando,.

Entertainment personality Kristel Fulgar will step up her hosting game as she hits on the microphone at Reply 1997. She will also hold her first-ever fan meet in Manila.

Visual artist and content creator Raco Ruiz is also part of the roster. He is holding his second solo exhibit, “Surrealicious,” at Secret Fresh Gallery in Rola Art Center in Ortigas, Pasig City until August 18.

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