New Zealand School Of Dance Student Has Been Selected As One Of The 2024 Emerging Practitioner Award Recipients

The Acorn Foundation and the trustees of the FAME Trust are pleased to announce the selection for the 2024 Emerging Practitioner Award recipient at the New Zealand School of Dance. Seven promising students are selected each year from top-rated performing arts schools in New Zealand to receive $10,000.

Dancer and educator Aylish Marshall is this year’s recipient from the New Zealand School of Dance. Aylish is a talented and diligent student, with a deep passion for dance. Aylish also loves sharing her skills, working at several dance studios around Wellington as an instructor.

Head of Contemporary Dance at the New Zealand School of Dance, Paula Steeds-Huston, was effusive in support of Aylish’s selection.

“Aylish is one of our most outstanding dancers who is fully dedicated to her art form. She has proven herself to be a pivotal and valued member of our whānau here at the New Zealand School of Dance. I know she has a bright future ahead of her and will be a vital contributor to the art of dance in New Zealand upon graduating next year.”

Aylish is originally from Adelaide, Australia, and moved to New Zealand to study at the New Zealand School of Dance. She competed in a number of national competitions in her native Australia, as well as spending four years as a member of the Australian Dance Theatre Youth Ensemble.

“Winning the FAME Emerging Practitioner award means so much to me and my family. I have dedicated myself to working hard and pursuing a future career in contemporary dance here at the New Zealand School of Dance, and this scholarship allows me to continue my training. I am extremely grateful to be the recipient of this scholarship and am excited to see what this next year holds for me.”

In 2025, the FAME Trust Emerging Practitioner award will enable Aylish to complete the New Zealand School of Dance Diploma in Dance Performance, as she pursues her ambition to join a professional dance company.

About FAME Trust:

Founded in 2007, the FAME (Fund for Acting and Musical Endeavours) Trust has long provided support for young and mid-career artists, plus funded national organisations like the NZSO, Toi Whakaari NZ Drama School, and the NZ School of Dance and local groups such as Opus Orchestra, Youth Philharmonic and BOP Symphonia.

Acorn manages several scholarship and awards programmes for the FAME Trust, including seven Emerging Practitioner Awards this year through the team at Creative Bay of Plenty. Outstanding performing arts institutions, including University of Auckland, University of Waikato, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, University of Otago, Toi Whakaari, NZ School of Dance and

Ara Institute of Canterbury will each have a $10,000 award to offer to students who have completed at least their first year of study. These talented students will have a focus in the performing arts in one of the following areas of study:

• Music: instrumentalists, operatic singers, composers, producers, conductors, taonga puoro players

• Contemporary Dance: dancers, choreographers, producers, kapa haka leaders • Theatre: actors, directors, playwrights, storytellers, theatrical technicians

About Acorn Foundation:

The Acorn Foundation, the Western Bay of Plenty’s local community foundation, enables generous people to make a bigger impact in their communities, by investing donated funds and distributing the returns to causes that matter – forever.

Since 2003, the Acorn Foundation has distributed nearly $20M to the Western Bay of Plenty community and beyond, supporting more than 300 local charities and award programmes.

In 2024, the Acorn Foundation gave over $3.2M to 272 local and national charitable organisations, scholarships, and award winners. Scholarships and awards surpassed $740,000 in total, including the Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction, given annually at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

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