History
The Theatrical Arts Academy was founded on 11 December 1948 by a Decree of the Federative People’s Republic of Yugoslavia, while in 1950, it merged with the Film College.
The classes on the Academy of Theater Art started on 12 February 1949. The first acting professors were Mata Milošević and Jozo Laurenčić, whose assistants were Miroslav Belović, Stevo Žigon and Soja Jovanović, while the first directing professors were Bojan Stupica and Hugo Klajn, Ph.D. The first Rector and Dean to the Academy was Dušan Matić.
In accordance with the plan to extend the study programs in line with the development of media, new study groups were established by the beginning of ‘60s, significantly expanding the educational activity. At that time, in 1962, the name was changed to the Academy of Theater, Film, Radio, and Television, while by the end of 1973, it received its current name - the Faculty of Dramatic Arts (Theater, Film, Radio, and Television).
In the following 1974, the Faculty is given a new building in Novi Beograd which provides, owing to its functionality and possibilities, the studying conditions of the highest quality. The FDA building is a house not only to the most successful and the most talented current and future dramatic artists but is also a space where a big theater stage, cinema halls, film and television studios, a radio studio, editing studios, a sound recording studio, dedicated space for stage dance classes, rehearsals and practical work are located.
In 1998, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, the Faculty of Dramatic Arts was awarded the Vuk Award, the most significant award in the field of culture in Serbia.
Over the recent period, creative involvement of the Academy and Faculty of Dramatic Arts graduates has given an immense contribution to the entire local cultural and artistic environment. In 2018, the Faculty of Dramatic Arts celebrated an important anniversary - it has been 70 years since this higher education institution has been setting the criteria for dramatic arts areas. This is a school which gave the most significant artists and significant contribution to the high level of Yugoslav and Serbian theater, film, radio, and television.