Every year, a few new UNT graduates move to New York City to pursue their dreams to make it in the arts. Beginning in the summer of 2023, we followed two alums on their journey. They found good times, including making new friends and meeting celebrities. And there were some challenging moments, from late nights to laundry. Read their month-by-month adventures online.

Sax and the City

In the sixth grade, Ian Weidmann ('23) picked up the saxophone.

"I couldn't stop listening to it," he says. "I knew I wanted to make it a career immediately."

And the jazz studies major, who grew up mostly in San Antonio, knew he wanted to study at UNT. Going to New York City was the next logical move.

"It seemed the place to be if you wanted to see the players," he says.

Weidmann spent his first year in the Big Apple studying for his master's degree at the Manhattan School of Music while playing gigs and honing his craft. Weidmann also performed at a theater during the summer in upstate New York. He has one more year of graduate school and he'd like to get more consistent work, such as a weekly gig in a big band.

Weidmann was excited to experience life in a big city. But, before he moved, he was anxious about the late-night schedule and networking.

"It's like the calm before the storm a little bit. It's just crazy. You have to be willing to take gigs that aren't dream gigs," he says. "That's a little nerve-wracking, but I'm willing to take a leap."

A Year Later

How he's changed:
"You have to have tougher skin. I mean, that's maybe a little bit of a stereotype. But I think you meet a lot of people, and you're not always going to agree with them. My sense of scheduling had to get a lot better, too, just because you have so many options. You have to hold yourself accountable. It's like, 'OK, do I go out tonight or do I stay home and maybe do something that's more practice related or for a class?'"

Biggest challenge:
Weidmann had to figure out when to sleep. His classes usually started at 10 a.m. and they -- along with rehearsals -- lasted until 5 p.m. Then, he had to decide how to spend his evening. He usually went to bed at midnight, but jazz clubs stayed open until 3 in the morning.

"There was a point where I was trying to go to jams and shows every night. You have to pick and choose what you go to. At least in Texas, most things end earlier. In New York, you could just choose to not go to sleep. I was living on campus last year, and sometimes I'd want to go to a show in Brooklyn. That's going to take you about an hour, and I'd think, 'I don't know if I want to go all the way to Brooklyn.' Sometimes, I'd have to stop myself and be like, 'Well, this is the reason you came here -- to go to shows.'"

Working with others:
Weidmann played in a school combo led by Buster Williams, a legendary 82-year-old bass player who's worked with Miles Davis. "He was pretty nice, but he holds you to a high standard. If he thinks you're not delivering, he'll definitely call you out on it. It was just a real treat to get to work with him."

Celebrity encounters:
"I got to take a picture with U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and some friends at a jazz club in the village. That was a crazy coincidence!"

Advice to other graduates who want to live in New York:
"It's good to be a reasonable, caring person. Sometimes you meet people and they think, 'Oh, well, I'm in a big city so now I need to change my personality and try to be cool,' or change something about yourself to appeal to other people. But I think that's not a good strategy. It's just not good for your own wellbeing either."

Setting the Stage

Ellie Armitage ('21) had been dreaming of New York City since she was a child.

When she was 5 years old, she appeared in a Memphis theater's production of Cinderella. Her parents started a community theater, and the stage always has been part of her life. Through the years, she visited the city about five times – often hurrying to get from one Broadway show to another.

After earning a degree in theatre, she traveled the country as part of the Jurassic World Live Tour, a production based on the movie, and saved the money for her eventual move to New York. She set herself up in a financial position and with a schedule that allowed her to pursue auditions half of the time and work part time.

Armitage moved to New York City in late July 2023, and she took part in the Actor Therapy musical intensive program, which is designed for actors living in the city for the first time. She landed a waitressing job at Sardi's, a famous theater restaurant in Times Square that is frequented by celebrities, shortly after she moved.

After a year, she made her New York City stage debut in a production of Shakespeare's Pericles that ran in October 2024.

"The dream is to be performing on stage," she says.

A Year Later

What she's learned:
"It's all about who you know. It's been a year of just trying to chip away at that brick wall and now I have a small chunk out. Now I'm waiting to see if this will allow me to get the next chunk out. I don't think I'm ever going to get a thick skin about auditioning, because it is constantly going into a room and being vulnerable, and baring your soul for 90 seconds, and then they say, 'Next,' and they bring in the next person, and you're one of 800 people who are there. However, I am fairly confident in the fact that whatever opportunity is meant for me will find me as long as I hustle."

Living in the city:
"I love my neighborhood. One week, there were three separate people I knew that I ran into randomly on the street. It's always a good feeling when you can walk around New York and run into someone you know. I'm not going to claim I'm a New Yorker yet. But I do believe I've infiltrated into the community."

Routine:
"Every day when I make my coffee in the morning, I sit at my computer and I open up every audition website, and I check every single one of them. I have an Excel spreadsheet of every time I do an audition. You've got to treat it like your job."

New skills:
"I live on the fourth floor of a walk-up apartment. My calves have never been stronger, I'll say that. The whole laundry journey in and of itself is interesting. I've never had to hike with 20 pounds of laundry on my back down the street to use the laundromat."

Celebrity encounters:
"Patti LuPone, Daniel Radcliffe, Alicia Keys. I served Patti LuPone!!! That was a bit awe-inspiring. When I mentioned that I had recently moved to the city to audition, she said, 'Good luck to you.' So that's all the good luck I need to go into the New Year!"

Advice to other graduates who want to live in New York:
"You've just got to meet as many people as you can -- friends and just people that you can be like, 'What are you auditioning for this week? Where are you going? Where did you find that?'"

Looking back:
"A lot of the challenges of the city still feel like a blessing. I mean, I've been here a year, and I've wanted to live here since I was like 12, so I still feel that, 'Oh, my God, I did it!' Even when, you know, I'm hauling my laundry, or even when I can't get where I'm going because the train never came -- all of those things feel very minuscule because I did the thing and I still feel very proud of that."