If you haven’t heard by now, we have been busy at NIDA this year in the preparation of our new Master of Fine Arts courses, and we are excited to say they are finally ready to share with you.
Earlier this year our Director/CEO Lynne Williams announced the flagship Master of Fine Arts (Cultural Leadership) to be Chaired by arts leader Robyn Archer AO, and now NIDA has launched two additional MFA courses in Design for Performance and Voice.
Head of Design for Performance, Michael Scott-Mitchell says the new graduate course will give practitioners the chance to explore new practices and ideas in design across different creative areas, including theatre, opera, dance, live performance, screen and events.
Michael is himself an active member of the Australian arts community (he is the designer behind Sydney Theatre Company’s current production of Arms and the Man). He, like other creative professionals, has observed the design landscape shift over the past decade. ‘The perceived boundaries between members of the creative team are becoming increasingly permeable, areas of specialisation are less defined’.
‘The MFA (Design for Performance) provides a “hot house” environment where designers of sets and costume and lighting designers can come together to collaborate with directors, actors, writers, dramaturgs and other creative professionals. By bringing the various areas of design together, we’re aiming to foster creative partnerships that share a common language’.
NIDA’s Master of Fine Arts (Voice) is the first course of its kind in Australia, offering artists the opportunity to study voice teaching and coaching. The course will be led by Katerina Moraitis who already mentors voice training for NIDA’s full-time Acting students.
‘Voice is a powerful and expressive tool that identifies who we are and how we relate to one another,’ says Katerina. ‘This is a course for actors, theatre directors, drama teachers and other voice professionals who are looking to develop a career in teaching, such as tutoring emerging voice professionals, coaching professional actors for performance or consultation, or delivering corporate training.
‘Our goal is that this course will encourage a new generation of voice teachers and coaches who will embrace change, contribute to international conversations about teaching and learning for voice, and are equipped to address the evolving contemporary issues and opportunities in the sector.’
These three new graduate courses join NIDA’s already successful MFA (Directing) and MFA (Writing for Performance) and will be housed in the new $14 million Graduate School, set to open in early 2016.
To find out more, visit apply.nida.edu.au where you can watch our academic staff talking about the MFA courses at the recent Info Night.
Photography by Lisa Maree Williams.
