That’s the ticket. Fifty cents from every ticket sold at Dendy Cinemas at Newtown and Opera Quays will go to the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA) Student Bursary Program during the week of April 18 – 24. The program helps meet the living costs for emerging screen and theatre artists and workers who come to Sydney to study at NIDA. Each year the NIDA Foundation Trust provides upwards of $180,000 in bursary support. The money from the Dendy Cinema contribution goes to that.
In a week, students can devote upwards of 60 hours in their course work at NIDA alone. Those hours come from their daily class work, rehearsals at evenings and on weekends, performances and secondments. No one can commit to that sort of schedule and hold a regular job. Part-time work is as far as they can stretch themselves. The bursary money helps them pay for the basics in life. It’s a simple equation. The more people pay to see a movie at those two Dendy Cinemas the more the bursary students get to pay the rent. Some of the money from the bursary program goes to student secondments as well. NIDA runs the program to give talented students who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford to study there a chance to shine.
