Former Kuranui College student Isabelle Davidson was awarded the 2021 Golden C’Art Scholarship from Masterton Trust Lands Trust (MTLT) to support her studies towards a Bachelor of Animation at Yoobee Colleges in Wellington.
Worth $1,000, the scholarship is awarded annually to a top performing Wairarapa student in a fine arts subject going on to study an arts-related course at a New Zealand tertiary institution. The recipient is selected through agreement by Wairarapa secondary school principals.
Isabelle was grateful to the Trust for the scholarship and says it’s “definitely a big help” to supporting her first year of study. The money has helped her pay for course related costs like design software and transport to travel from Wairarapa to Wellington for classes.
While Isabelle says she always liked art as a young child and had “always thought about narrative and character design” she hadn’t considered animation as a future career until she learned about ‘storyboarding’ at Kuranui. Storyboarding is the visual process of illustrating a story scene-by-scene to show a filmmaker’s vision.
The animation course takes three years to complete. Eventually Isabelle plans to work in an animation studio. She says there are plenty of work opportunities for animators (beyond movies) – the gaming industry, training organisations and advertising being a few examples.
Originally established by the Golden C’Art Trust, MTLT continues to provide the scholarship following the dissolution of that trust two years ago.