The New York Film Academy was founded in 1992 on the belief that a top-quality education in filmmaking should be accessible to anyone with the drive and ambition to make films. The school opened at Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Film Center in New York City, and has expanded worldwide to include campuses in New York; Los Angeles; South Beach, Miami; and Gold Coast, Australia.
NYFA seeks to break down the barriers of entry into the industries it serves by making hands-on, intensive visual storytelling education accessible to the most diverse, international, and broadest possible spectrum of students, and to hone the skills of future professionals so that they may one day serve the visual storytelling arts as industry leaders.
The New York Film Academy seeks to promote and advance the art of Visual Storytelling (Film and related media including staged performance) as a transformational and ennobling vehicle to both the creator and audience, with a profound impact on individuals, communities, and global society.
Visual communication plays an increasingly vital role in our globally connected lives. Motion picture content in its innumerable manifestations has entered virtually every aspect of daily life, work, culture, and our constructed environment. Indeed, visual communication is fast becoming the predominant form of expressive communication worldwide. Visual storytelling, in all its historical and evolving forms, has the unique power of allowing us to experience the life of others through the imagination and perspective of the storyteller.
The ability to effectively harness this means of expression will be ever more essential to a successful member of the creative industries. In order to serve aspiring visual storytelling artists, educators in this field should act as conservator and innovator, passing on the accrued knowledge, techniques, and methods of the art while incorporating new technology and innovations.
We believe the process of creation itself can be ennobling to the artist, and the artist’s creation can have a profound impact on others. By giving the audience the chance to experience the world from the perspective of another, visual stories have the power to create empathy, bridge differences, and open new avenues of thought. Therefore, the motion picture artist has a power and a responsibility. Those who master this form of communication will be instrumental in the development and advancement of society, and institutions that hope to educate and train visual storytellers play an essential role in that same mission.
NYFA has set the following objectives to fulfill:
To provide a learning environment conducive to creative thought and artistic expression, as well as hands-on collaboration.
To help students better appreciate the art and craft of visual storytelling so that they may develop as artists and better express their personal artistic visions.
To empower students to find and develop a creative voice.
To teach and develop new capabilities in students’ approach to the art and craft of visual storytelling.
In pursuit of its institutional mission and goals, the New York Film Academy adheres to the following core values. These core values inform the New York Film Academy’s decision-making processes, institutional policies, and commitment of institutional resources:
Student Success:
As a student-centered institution, the New York Film Academy recognizes that the success of its students is inseparable from and synonymous with the success of the college itself. The New York Film Academy strives for its students’ success as learners, professionals, and global citizens.
Integrity:
The New York Film Academy expects its students, faculty, staff and administration to act with integrity, honesty, and the highest ethical standards.
Excellence:
In every area, at every level, and among all stakeholders, the New York Film Academy strives for excellence. The institution sees as its main function to create an intellectual, physical, and social environment that promotes and supports excellence among its stakeholders and the community at large.
Global Reach:
In an increasingly interconnected global society, the New York Film Academy is committed to graduating global citizens with the communication, collaboration, and critical skills necessary to address issues facing our modern world. To this end, the New York Film Academy seeks to offer programming to the widest possible array of global populations, with a physical presence in as many locations as possible while continuing to deliver visual storytelling education of the highest quality.
NYFA has five Institutional Learning Outcomes it expects all students to achieve. These are:
Professionalism – NYFA graduates will be able to demonstrate habits and behaviors of professional artists and media creators, such as regular, disciplined practice; collaboration; creative problem solving; leadership and time management.
Visual Literacy – NYFA graduates will be able to analyze, contextualize, and evaluate visual storytelling in various art forms and media.
Visual Storytelling – NYFA graduates will be able to master the tools of their disciplines to create visual stories, experiences, and works of art with well-defined aesthetic, conceptual, and contextual choices.
Personal Voice – NYFA graduates will be able to demonstrate the development of a personal creative voice through the creation of original works of art and media.
Global Citizenship – NYFA graduates will be able to demonstrate an awareness of global issues, and how their work fits within a global context.
Oscar Bleetstein (Vice Chair)
Cheng Davis
Avy Eschenasy
Dan Cogan
Matthew Modine
Denise Mullen
Kristi Nelson (Chair)
Jean Sherlock
Clay Tarver
Michael Young
Jackie Jenkins-Scott
Mohamed Diab
New York Film Academy is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC).
Address:
985 Atlantic Avenue, Suite 100, Alameda, CA 94501
Telephone:
510.748.9001
New York Film Academy – Los Angeles:
The New York Film Academy has received “approval” from the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education (BPPE) to operate as a degree-granting institution in the state of California. “Approval” or “approval to operate” means that the Bureau has determined and certified that an institution meets minimum standards established by the Bureau and according to the California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009.
2535 Capital Oaks Drive, Ste 400
Sacramento, CA 95833
P.O. Box 980818 West Sacramento, CA
Web site address: www.bppe.ca.gov
Toll-Free Telephone & Fax: (888) 370-7589 or
by fax (916) 263-1897 or (916) 431-6959 or by fax (916) 263-1987.
New York Film Academy – New York:
New York Film Academy is registered by the New York State Education Department to confer the degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts on graduates of programs in Acting for Film, Filmmaking, Entertainment Media and Musical Theatre; to confer certificates of completion on graduates of one-year and two-year programs in Acting for Film, 3D Animation & Visual Effects, Broadcast Journalism, Cinematography, Documentary Filmmaking, Filmmaking, Game Design & Writing, Graphic Design, Musical Theatre, Photography, Producing, and Screenwriting; and to confer certificates of completion on graduates of workshop programs in Acting for Film, 3D Animation & Visual Effects, Broadcast Journalism, Documentary Filmmaking, Filmmaking, Musical Theatre, Photography, Producing, and Screenwriting.
Office of College and University Evaluation
New York State Education Department
89 Washington Avenue, Room 960
EBA Albany, NY 12234
Website Address: http://www.nysed.gov/college-university-evaluation Telephone: (518) 474 – 1151
This is the document of authority for NYFA Faculty working at the New York Film Academy Los Angeles, New York or Miami Campus. This is a live document that will be updated as needed. All faculty will be notified of any updates to this document via their NYFA email.
The New York Film Academy reserves the right to change any policies, procedures and course offerings. All faculty at the New York Film Academy are required to follow the institutional and campus-wide policies.
President, Michael Young
Senior Executive Vice President, David Klein
NY Campus Dean, Elli Ventouras
LA Campus Dean, Dan Mackler
Miami Campus Dean, Maylen Dominguez