Strolling the streets of New York the week of Christmas. My friends warned me how cold it would be, and I thought I had packed enough winter warmers but boy was I wrong!
Nothing could dampen my excitement for a white Christmas though. When you live in Australia, our festive season is super hot! I'll always remember it as a beautiful city, with very generous people and a great creative vibe.
I started working at NYFA Gold Coast late 2013. Prior to that I ran my own teaching business. So when I was welcomed into the NYFA family, the community of highly driven, creative people really felt like home.
It's been inspiring to see our to campuses grow and expand into what it is now. I've grown prouder of our program and training (which is top notch!) as we adapt and change to be the best each year!
The best story I've heard is from a recent gradutate who reached out to me six months after they completed their training. They told me that they still use the story practices they learnt in Scene Study class and that the Meisner training has since helped them to book several paid short films!
It is great to know that what we do works!
I would definitely choose to train for a Diploma in Acting for Film. We are focused on making sure that actors know how to create their own work, so instead of hanging by their phone waiting for their agent to call, they are actively in pursuit of their career and the kind of career they want.
We live in such an accessible world now, where anyone can literally broadcast anything. I've even started my own Youtube videos! The only reason why people lack career success is because they lack the skills to bring their message to the world.
Our AFF program teaches in-depth acting technique training, but also writing, producing, directing and everything you need. When you have the skills, you have freedom. It doesn't get any better than that!
The Gold Coast campus has also opened a big new space in the heart of Southport. Not only do we have the newest, shiniest campus, but we are also five minutes from the beach! I love exercising and keeping fit, and as an actor keeping on top of your health is your 'other' day job. So we are super unique and lucky in that sense.
I don't believe that a great company can survive without great people. Building a strong and committed community needs to be number one. We have an energetic company culture here, where a lot of us collaborate and create projects in our NYFA downtime.
It is this focus on high levels of communication and supportiveness that lead to a culture of trust, respect and inspiration that we all get from one another. That has also undoubtedly helped us to expand to where we are today.