What is the ISTA Arts Academy, Hong Kong?
The ISTA Arts Academy is an inclusive and diverse performing arts community in Hong Kong that provides young people the opportunity to create and connect across cultures, developing skills and awareness to engage with and change the world responsibly.
It is a place for students to collaborate with others to create their own work and a place to connect the talents of like-minded young people.
They achieve this through a multidisciplinary approach incorporating drama, music and movement/choreography into their work.
Drama
Using the ISTA™ Ensemble Method, students explore concepts, ideas and issues through theatre. Students work together as an ensemble to devise and collaboratively create unique pieces of theatre.
Music
Working with a director’s brief or exploring a reaction to stimuli which may be poetry, music, text or image, students learn to manipulate the language of music to convey different moods and feelings.
Movement/Choreography
Students explore and are inspired by stimuli such as texts, visuals and music. Through these mediums they create and devise work and understand what it is for a body to move in space with focus and purpose.
Practioners
The Academy’s practitioners include freelance ISTA staff members from all around the world and two full time staff members who have taught in international schools and worked in the entertainment industry. You’ll recognise some familiar ISTA faces here including Anne Drouet, Juliette Simms, Darren Scully and Moira Arthurs.
Patrons
They have a long list of influential patrons including John Altman (Emmy, BAFTA and ASCAP award winner), Andy Summers (guitar legend – The Police), Neil Corbould (double Oscar Academy and multi-BAFTA award winner Special Effects Supervisor), Ian McElhinney (veteran zctor & award-winning director), David Lightbody (Senior Vice President, Disney Live Entertainment), Michael Luevano (award-winning events organiser) and Marie Jones, OBE (award-winning playwright and actress).
Past work
They’ve been a key player in providing multidisciplinary arts experiences to young people for quite some time. Some of their past work includes Know Yourself (2017), Rhythm of Shape (2017), Come Together (2018), Untold Stories (2019), The world is listening (2020) and much, much more. Check out their work on their Youtube channel.
www.youtube.com/@istahkacademyofperforminga7196/videos
2022-2023 season
They are getting ready to launch their next season and we can’t wait to share it with you when they do.
Stayed tuned on their social media channels for updates!