Nina's Next Step

Hello! My name is Nina and I’m midway through a two-year musical theatre program in New York City. I’ve created this fundraiser to enable me to continue my studies, which helps me to get one step closer to achieving my dream of becoming a performing artist and fostering a thriving arts community in my homeland, The Bahamas.

I was able to complete my first year of school with a cumulative 4.0 GPA. I used my own savings along with scholarship/grant money and assistance from my boyfriend to get this far. I’m hoping, with your support, that I can complete this final leg of my education and begin the work of building my dreams.

Your contributions will go directly toward my tuition. Along with this campaign, I have applied for local grants, my school's Continuing Student Scholarship and have interviewed for one of several open resident advisor positions, which will give me free housing.

Attending AMDA this past year has been a life changing experience. It was the first time I truly invested in myself. It has humbled and challenged me, on several occasions causing me to pause and really reflect on my growth. It has sharpened me and made me more determined than I’ve ever been to fight for and succeed at something.

More than anything, it’s taught this small-island girl that her huge dreams are valid and quite capable of coming true. The idea that I am capable took me a long time to own. I knew at an early age that I loved to sing and had a flair for the dramatic. I enrolled in dance classes, took voice lessons and participated in community theater. By 17 years old, I knew I wanted to make a living as a performer, but I had also settled into life on my island of Grand Bahama long enough to convince myself that my dreams were too big, too frivolous and too impractical.

Where I’m from, creative careers are seldom encouraged. Because of this, I believed for a long time that my talents could never provide a stable and sustainable future. But in 2017, I was laid off from my job—and all the comfort and security I was promised by choosing the ‘sensible’ career was ripped away from me. Initially, I felt helpless and hopeless. Soon however I realized: I get the chance to start over. Deciding to shift the trajectory of my life to pursue my childhood dream was the most difficult, most liberating decision I’ve ever made.

This journey is so very personal for me, sometimes terrifying, but always worth it. Sharing it all with you feels vulnerable in a way I don’t often allow myself to be, but I’m baring my heart because my goals are now just beyond my reach and I’m not willing to let them pass me by without a fight.

Completing school is just one step of this journey. I hope, through my future work, to see Bahamian faces and stories represented internationally. Many of us have extraordinary gifts the world ought to see, but we lack resources and opportunity. We are more than capable; we simply need access.

I hope to one day establish an accredited agency that puts Bahamian talent in front of casting agents abroad and to establish my own scholarship fund for Bahamians pursuing careers in the performing arts. My experience has alerted me to how challenging it is to get local funding for arts-related pursuits and I don’t want that to continue to be a hindrance for Bahamian youth.