Dancer, Maidie Widmer became a BBM Scholar in 2020. She shares with us the opportunity BBM Scholarships gives her to rebuild after a difficult two years for the arts industry.

My name is Maidie Widmer, and in 2020 as well as being in my graduate year at The Australian Ballet School, I was honoured to become a BBM Scholar.

As I’m sure everyone can relate, 2020 and 2021 were a challenge for all, due to COVID-19 and particularly for the arts sector, jobs were scarce and performances limited.

However, at the beginning of 2021, I was lucky enough to receive a contract with The Australian Ballet, a job that had genuinely always been a dream and over the past year proved to be everything I could’ve imagined and more.

Going into my second year at The Australian Ballet I look to extend myself as much as I can, see what I can learn to better myself and how I can continue to grow as an artist.

Being fortunate enough to have gained employment within this last year opened opportunities for my BBM scholarship that I hadn’t imagined.

I plan to travel to all the places that I believe have shaped and moulded the arts and completely immerse myself in the culture and tradition they have to offer. I feel that having that sole focus of learning as much as I can will only prove to be invaluable to the growth of the arts in myself and for Australia.

14th February, 2022