​Professional development sits as a cornerstone of Out East Creative's mission.
With extensive contacts in the performing arts industry throughout New Zealand and internationally, director, Andy Brigden loves to connect practicing and emerging artists with other experts in their field to expand skills and inspire creativity.

Andy regularly trains with Zen Zen Zo Physical Theatre’s Christchurch Actors Dojo in the Suzuki Method of Actor Training, Butoh, Viewpoints and Composition. In 2019 she attended Zen Zen Zo’s annual 2 week Stomping Ground intensive in Brisbane,  a week-long Stomp in Amsterdam, followed by a week each on an Artist’s Retreat in Bulgaria and  the NZ Stomp retreat in Hanmer Springs with more of her New Zealand and Australian colleagues. 

In early July 2020, Out East Creative brought Alys Hill, Artistic DIrector of Zen Zen Zo NZ to run a Viewpoints workshop with Hawke's Bay theatre-makers. Read about it on Andy's blog here.

Andy is currently working with the team at Keirunga Theatre Collective to deliver a series of professional development workshops for industry professionals in Hawke's Bay. The emphasis of the training opportunities will be on accessibility for all, adopting a 'Pay What You Can' model* . The first of these was a 2 day acting workshop with Peter Feeney, exploring the use of mask to unlock character on Day 1, and screen-acting technique on Day 2. 
*minimum deposit applies