AIM Dramatic Arts graduate Danielle Maas. Image by Marcus Walters
Graduates from AIM Dramatic Arts (AIM), the acting and theatre-making department of the Australian Institute of Music, are making their mark locally and internationally.
Based in Sydney next to Town Hall in Pitt Street, AIM Dramatic Arts is at the forefront of Australian theatre and actor training with a unique hands on approach to developing multi-skilled, multi-talented theatre makers.
The two-year intensive Bachelor of Performance is currently inviting applications for a mid-year intake for what is the only undergraduate program in Sydney to offer a combination of actor training and theatre making.
Bachelor of Performance graduates have a strong reputation within the industry. An impressive track record includes Jenna Hutton, who joined the Bell Shakespeare Company Player’s Ensemble last year, appearing in main stage productions at the Playhouse of the Sydney Opera House.
More recent graduates include Luke Middlebrook, who is currently the Production Manager for the Short + Sweet Festival and Vanessa Morrison, who is currently performing and touring Australia with the theatre-in-education company Poetry in Action.
Performer, writer and producer Danielle Maas is one of the original Bachelor of Performance graduates. Currently working for the AIM Dramatic Arts team as the resident Production Manager, Maas recently worked as the Assistant Director to Kip Williams on the Sydney Chamber Opera’s production of The Lighthouse, which offered unique insights into the industry ready skills developed within the framework of the course.
Mass said a number of AIM Dramatic Arts graduates were cast in the production. ‘They were working as devising and collaborate actors alongside NIDA, WAAPA and VCA graduates,’ she said.
‘It was then I really saw the power of our graduates to hold their own, how they work and how they can work with others.’
Later this year, Maas will travel overseas to begin a Masters of Advanced Theatre Making at London’s highly revered Central School of Speech and Drama. She said her training at AIM was essential to getting into the program at Central.
‘For me, challenging myself with training in a new city where I don’t know anyone is something that we were taught in the Bachelor of Performance program,’ she said.
Maas said she was constantly pushed to explore new styles of theatre and new ways of working, and this has set herself up to continue the interrogation into her creative work.
She also highlights the invaluable collaborative skills that she developed over the two years at AIM. ‘You develop a rapport for your fellow theatre makers. An actor working with a lighting designer, or an actor working with a stage manager,’ she said.
‘You actually get an idea of how those roles work. I think it’s that kind of communication that makes our graduates so successful, because you have an understanding of others and how to work as a whole, as opposed to just doing our job, which is also something instilled in us.’
‘It’s that sense of rapport and respect that separates this course from others in a competitive market,’ she said.
Delivered by the Australian Institute of Music’s Dramatic Arts department in Sydney, the Bachelor of Performance program is a two-year, intensive specialised training experience for actors, creators and producers.
‘The course is focused on theatre making and particularly holistic theatre making, meaning an interest and love of all theatre,’ said Maas.
The AIM Bachelor of Performance is a two-year, full-time intensive program that trains students to become cutting edge actors, theatre-makers and producers.
Students learn the craft of acting and gain fundamental theatre-making skills in the areas of directing, design and technical production, which are required for a professional career in the performing arts.
Applications are now invited for the 19 May intake of the Bachelor of Performance Program.
For more information visit the AIM Dramatic Arts website.
