It was originally conceived for the purpose of training actors for film and television acting and is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST) to offer associate degrees.

[1] Actors in Advertising, which grew into the School for Film and Television (SFT) and later became the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts (NYCDA), was founded in 1980 by Joan See, a student of Sanford Meisner.

[2] NYCDA founded the annual Joan See Memorial Scholarship in 2018.

[3] 1996 saw the accreditation of The New York Conservatory by the National Association of Schools of Theatre, and in 2013 the institution began granting an associate degree in Film & Television Performance.

[citation needed] In 2018, The New York Conservatory launched a two-year associate degree in Musical Theater Performance.