It All Started Here: Four City Academy Student Stories

A course can be the beginning of something you never quite expected. You might arrive looking to build your confidence, develop a skill or simply make more time for something you love. Along the way, you can discover new creative possibilities, meet people who share your interests and find the encouragement to take an idea a little further.

We sat down with four City Academy students to hear where their creative journeys have taken them - and what happened after they took that first step.

Their stories are all different, but they share something important: creativity rarely happens in isolation. Sometimes, the people you meet along the way become just as important as the skills you learn - opening doors to new ideas, collaborations and opportunities you may never have imagined when you first signed up.

For Fou Fou, burlesque offered much more than an opportunity to dance. It brought together humour, performance, movement and self-expression, while introducing her to people who shared her willingness to experiment, take creative risks and try something new.

              “It’s a great way to find like-minded people who are willing to push themselves,” she says.

That sense of connection has remained central to her work. Over time, performing gave Fou Fou a greater sense of confidence and ownership over how she took up space, both on and off stage. It became a way of exploring an aspect of herself that she had not necessarily realised she needed to express until she began performing.

One moment that has stayed with her came when a stranger told her they had specifically come to a show to see her perform. It was a small but significant milestone: a reminder that the ideas she was developing on stage could reach beyond herself and resonate with an audience. 

Today, Fou Fou has returned to City Academy as a teacher, bringing her experience back into the classroom and helping other performers discover their own relationship with burlesque.

After taking a short course in 2022, Christian returned the following year to study the Screen Acting Intensive - 4 Weeks course, and it was there that he met Will Gibson.

“We just had the same sort of sense of humour,” Christian recalls. When Will heard that Christian also wrote, he asked to read some of his work. Christian brought in a script, and after reading a couple of scenes, Will suggested they film them.

“I was like, ‘We can’t do that.’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, we can just get our iPhones and do it.’”

That simple suggestion became the beginning of a creative partnership. The pair stayed in touch, went to the Edinburgh Fringe together and returned to City Academy for a Screen Acting Foundation - 3 Months. Before long, Christian was developing The Stained Stainless Man, with Will collaborating on the project. The film went on to win Best Emerging Talent and Best Social Drama at the New Renaissance Film Festival.

Looking back on his time at City Academy, Christian says he “absolutely adored it, loved it, learned so much, gained so much confidence.”

And that confidence has continued to grow beyond the classroom. He is now continuing that journey, working on his next film, God of Mischief, as well as a TV pilot, Not Fully Developed.

What began with a City Academy course has grown into an ongoing creative practice - and a community of people to make it with.

Part research project and part creative experiment, the book combines academic studies of British comedy with fictional characters and Bilee’s own perspective as someone discovering the culture from the outside. Its origins were somewhat unexpected: while struggling to finish a comedy script for her first solo Edinburgh Fringe run, Bilee began writing the book instead. “I call it productive procrastination,” she says.

That procrastination became a creative project in its own right. Alongside writing, Bilee continued developing her comedy, performing at open mics in London before taking her work to Edinburgh, where she completed a 24-day solo run.

For Bilee, the journey has been about giving herself permission to try things and learn along the way. Her advice to other aspiring creatives is simple: start. “Every rejection is a redirection” she says, and sometimes the only way to discover where your creativity might lead is to take the first step.

From an acting class to the Edinburgh Fringe and a book about British comedy, Bilee’s story is a reminder that curiosity can be a powerful creative starting point.

But it was the people around her that made her want to keep coming back. “When you finally come into it and you’re like, ‘Oh, there’s other people like me,’” she says. “It just felt like we’re all talking about the same thing.”

For Elizabeth, being part of a community that shares her enthusiasm for musical theatre has given her more than friendships. Rehearsals have become a form of release, something she can look forward to regardless of what else is happening in her life. “As soon as I go to rehearsal, it doesn't matter what I’ve done during the day; you just instantly feel better,” she says.

And over time, that sense of belonging has brought a confidence that extends beyond the rehearsal room. “Once you find your community, then you feel a bit more confident in your own interests,” she explains. Whether it’s going to see a show, attending an open mic night or simply talking about theatre with friends, finding people who share her passion has made Elizabeth more comfortable embracing that part of herself.

After eleven years, she is still performing, still finding new shows to be excited about, and still looking forward to the next rehearsal.

Her advice to anyone thinking about joining is simple: take the first step. “The hardest bit is walking in,” she says. Once you do, you might just find your people - and a community you never knew you were looking for.

There is no single way to take part in something creative, and no particular outcome you need to work towards. A course can simply be time spent learning, making and sharing an experience with others. And sometimes, as these stories show, it becomes the beginning of something you never expected. Browse our upcoming courses and choose something that feels right for you.