Originally located at the Tribeca Film Center, NYFA moved to 100 East 17th Street, the former Tammany Hall building in Union Square in 1994.

NYFA's disciplines of study include filmmaking, Producing, Screenwriting, Cinematography, Digital editing, Documentary Filmmaking, Acting for Film, 3D Animation and Visual Effects, Entertainment Media, Photography, Game Design, Musical Theater and Virtual Reality, as well as an English as a second language program that aims to combine traditional language learning with activities related to the arts.

Since 2007, NYFA has collaborated with museums and major art institutions to organize cultural and filmmaking education initiatives for teens and young adults.

The partnering institutions include: NYFA founded 10 ARTS Foundation, a nonprofit organization that offers scholarship and funding opportunities for storytellers.

10 ARTS has NYFA Alliances with National Geographic, TheMET, BAFTA, NASA, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, The Writers Guild Foundation, Warner Brothers, USAID, National Coalition Against Censorshop, The Hilaria & Alec Baldwin Foundation, USO, TEDx, MultiChoice, Alexandra Skiba Memorial Scholarship, Tribeca Film Festival, AT&T, New York Public Library, Inter-American Development Bank, Fulbright, and more.

[11] Notable faculty members have included SAG Award-winning actor Matthew Modine, BAFTA Award-winning cinematographer Anthony B. Richmond BSC, ASC, actor Bill Duke, writer Heather Hach, director Nag Ashwin, actress Brenda Vaccaro, actor Louis Gossett Jr., actress and musical theater performer Kristy Cates, director Adam Nimoy, game designer Chris Swain, screenwriter Jim Jennewein, actress Lynda Goodfriend, and actor/director Michael Zelniker.