Models line up for tourism campaign
Models of all ages and experience levels gathered in Victoria Park yesterday hoping to be selected to represent Bermuda in a new branding campaign.About 20 people were there when the open casting call began at 11am; a slow but steady stream of applicants arrived as the event went on.Andrea Gillett, 26, was one of the first to be called into the park’s gazebo for a short audition.“They asked questions and then I had to pretend I was on a nice holiday with my boyfriend, flirting and dancing,” Ms Gillett said.Although she hadn’t modelled since she was 11, Ms Gillett had one of the special skills Bermuda’s marketing company, Fuseideas, was looking for.“They were asking for cliff-jumping experience, which I’ve been doing since I was a little kid growing up here,” she said.Many of the other hopefuls had some local experience.Natasha Dowling, 46, modelled with last year’s Evolution Fashion Show at City Hall and thought the Department of Tourism’s campaign sounded like a fun new opportunity.“I always wanted to do something for Bermuda, [to] represent Bermuda,” she said after her audition. “I enjoyed it. It’s always an experience whether you get it or not.”Each applicant’s audition lasted only a few minutes.Kamel Dickinson, 25, said: “They just asked me about my experience and had me dance for them. I think it went well, can’t complain.”Tourism Minister Wayne Furbert announced last week that Fuseideas would only be hiring models from within Bermuda for the project.The advertising campaign is designed to attract more people from the “the wealthiest segment in the US” to the Island.