"The best advice I can offer, even more so since living in New York, is ask for what you want. Don't risk someone not knowing that you want that job, or that you want to collaborate, or that you want be part of a festival. Make it clear that you want it by asking for it because sometimes it works.”
Bridget Balodis has gone from studying Arts at ANU to directing and producing theatre in New York city.
She undertook a Bachelor of Arts from 2004-2006, studying Italian, English and theatre, and her honours in 2007.
“I was studying a Bachelor of Arts and the ANU offered the greatest diversity of subjects,” Bridget recalls.
Bridget’s favourite spot on campus was a sculpture behind Melville Hall.
“I really liked that brick sculpture on the lawn out the front of the Chifley library, the one with the sphere sort of cut out of it. I liked to sit in that.”
Highlights from her time in Canberra included living in the Fenner Hall dormitory.
“Fenner had an incredible sense of camaraderie and cohesion,” she says. “I still have friends that I lived with at Fenner.
“Another highlight would have to be Rich Pascal's lectures in the Speculative Fiction course - that's one animated guy.”
After ANU, Bridget studied at the Victorian College of the Arts. She has worked with theatre companies including the Bell Shakespeare, Malthouse and Sydney Theatre Company. She has also won several fellowships including the Ian Potter travelling scholarship, Mike Walsh Fellowship and Dame Joan Sutherland Fund Award. Bridget currently lives in New York City, and has worked with theatre companies Elevator Repair Service, terraNOVA Collective and Third Rail Projects.
Bridget has made several donations to the university during the annual ANU giving campaign.
Winning the Friends of the Library Blackburn Medal in Drama from ANU in 2007, she is grateful for her strong ANU foundation.
"Universities need support from their alumni, and it’s important to build a community with graduates. I had really good lecturers and a good time at ANU—this is my way of giving back,” she says.
“In the arts, as in education and science, government resources often fall short of the 'dream' amount of funding and you have to turn to private and philanthropic donors to really meet your funding goals.
“And I think once you've been in a position where you've been the one asking for those donations you can really appreciate that every little bit counts.”
