Victorian College of the Arts
Encyclopedia
The Faculty of the VCA and Music (VCAM) is a faculty of the University of Melbourne
, in Victoria (Australia)
. VCAM is located near the Melbourne central business district
, on two campuses, one - the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - on the Parkville
campus of the University of Melbourne
, and the other - the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) - on St Kilda Road
, at Southbank.
Courses and training offered at the VCA cover six academic disciplines: fine art
, dance
, drama
, film
and television
, music
and production, alongside the Centre for Ideas and The Wilin Centre for Indigenous
Arts and Cultural Development. Degree programs specialising in music performance
, composition
, musicology
, ethnomusicology
, conducting
, pedagogy
and music therapy
are taught at the Conservatorium, which also runs an Early Music Studio, and oversees the publishing house Lyrebird Press. Both campuses offer graduate programs including certificates and diplomas, and research and coursework awards at the masters and doctoral levels.
The library on the Southbank campus is known as the Lenton Parr Music, Visual and Performing Arts Library, whilst that at Parkville is the Louise Hanson-Dyer
Music Library.
was appointed to Chair a review. A number of his recommendations were adopted, resulting in the resignation of the inaugural Dean, abandonment of the previous push for full amalgamation, the creation of the present divisional structure with a more centralised administration and two relatively distinct teaching entities at the Parkville and Southbank campuses, and a change in the title of the head of the two divisions to Director. The appointment of a new Dean under this new structure, occurred in 2011.
This was not the first time, however, that sharing of resources across two institutions had been attempted. In 1974, at the time of the establishment of the VCA School of Music, the original entity called the University Conservatorium was finally unincorporated. Symbolically as well as in practice, the central place of instrumental tuition at the Faculty was removed to the new VCA and replaces with a more academic syllabus. Between 1975 and 1981, the teaching of most woodwind, some brass, double bass and guitar was undertaken by VCA staff at the Southbank campus.
Although much work has been done to ensure the autonomy of the VCA, the economic climate of the late 1980s led to a full amalgamation of the VCA and the Faculty of Music that took effect on 1 July 1991. The new organisation was known as the Faculty of Music, Visual and Performing Arts. John Poynter was appointed as Dean of the new super faculty. In September, Warren Bebbington was appointed to the vacant Ormond Chair and, at the urging of staff on both sides, worked to reverse the amalgamation, which was effected in 1994.
) was recorded in 1879, and the first Chair of Music, endowed by Francis Ormond
– known as the Ormond Professor of Music - was occupied from 1891, even though there was not yet a department or faculty of music at the University. Through the efforts of the first Ormond Professor, G.W.L. Marshall-Hall
, this was rectified in 1894 with the founding of the University Conservatorium, whose leased premises were located in the Queen's Coffee Palace, a six-storey building on the corner of Rathdowne and Victoria Streets, Carlton.
The various names that have been used during the music department's history are:
The foundation stone for a permanent Conservatorium in Royal Parade, on the University campus, was laid by Dame Nellie Melba
on 26 November 1909, and the building, designed by Bates, Peebles & Smart
, was opened in 1913. Assisted by a donation of £1,000 from a benefit concert arranged by Melba, which was matched by the Victorian State Government, the concert room now known as Melba Hall was added and opened by the Governor-General, Lord Denman
, on 29 October 1913.
The Conservatorium became the Faculty of Music within the University of Melbourne in 1926, and the first Dean was appointed. This was to be the administrative structure for the next 65 years.
. Subsequently, in 1973 the VCA was affiliated as a college of advanced education with the Victorian Institute of Colleges. The National Gallery of Victoria Art School, founded in 1867 to teach fine art, was the VCA's foundation school. This was followed by the establishment of the School of Music in 1974, the School of Drama in 1976, the School of Dance in 1978 and Film and Television (1992).
Also in 1978, the Victorian Education Department under the direction of the Deputy Premier and Minister of Education Lindsay Thompson
established the Victorian College of the Arts Technical School, a government secondary school for dancers and musicians (see VCASS
)in close association with the VCA and located on the same campus.
In March 1981, the Minister for the Arts Norman Lacy
had the Victorian College of the Arts Act passed through the Victorian Parliament. Its purpose was the reconstitution of the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) made necessary by the repeal in 1980 of the Victorian Institute of Colleges Act and to make it "better able to provide for the preparation of young people to enter upon careers as professional artists. It also represents a most significant development for the Victorian Arts Centre."
Lacy laid out a rationale for the re-constitution of the College under a VCA specific Act which was derived firstly "from the quite specific demands and circumstances of preparing young artists for professional practise." He asserted that "the basic concept upon which the college is built is that young artists intending to enter careers as practitioners in their various fields are best assisted to achieve their ambitions in a milieu of continuous artistic activity and endeavour of a fully professional nature. To the extent that artistic education is separated from normal professional practice it is so much less effective." Secondly, the rationale related to the adjacent location of the VCA campus to the National Gallery of Victoria
and the Victorian Arts Centre
. He said that this "Greater Arts Centre concept is central to the Government's decision to reconstitute the college by separate statute as well as to the development of the arts in general. It represents a simple, readily achievable and highly effective means of creating a substantial milieu of continuous professional activity of the highest standards. It also has ramifications which extend far beyond the college and its partner institutions. Its implementation will shape and invigorate the arts in many ways and lead to a dynamic, cultural and social facility without peer in Australia" and that it "afforded an unparalleled opportunity and challenge to present total programmes in the arts which should encourage creative exchanges between the art forms, give inspiration to students of the arts and provide for the public an experience which few places in the world can match." The Government therefore believed that the VCA's role was substantially different from other educational institutions.
In 1992 further expansion of the college took place when the fine arts programs of the former Faculty of Art and Design, Victoria College
(formerly Prahran College of Advanced Education), were incorporated into the School of Art. In 2006 the VCA was an affiliated college of the University of Melbourne, and on 1 January 2007 the VCA became known as the Faculty of the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. In April 2009 the school became part of the new Faculty of the VCA and Music (VCAM). The School of Music was amalgamated with the University of Melbourne's Faculty of Music, and the VCA Secondary School was separated and given a new campus.
With the University requiring the VCA to introduce its Melbourne Model
course structure, necessitating a reduction in the amount of hands-on arts training that students receive, critics feared that future students might be unable to find employment upon graduation. Staff of the former VCA accused the Dean, Sharman Pretty, of having "little or no recognition of the need for focused arts training, or any esteem for the arts themselves," and the University of Melbourne of trying to mislead the public about the effects. Students were also fearful a reduction in the quality of education and programs on offer whilst the school remained under the University of Melbourne.
Visual artists
Filmmakers
Musicians
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
, in Victoria (Australia)
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
. VCAM is located near the Melbourne central business district
Melbourne city centre
Melbourne City Centre is an area of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. It is not to be confused with the larger local government area of the City of Melbourne...
, on two campuses, one - the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - on the Parkville
Parkville, Victoria
Parkville is an inner city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km north from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Melbourne. At the 2006 Census, the population was 4,980....
campus of the University of Melbourne
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is a public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1853, it is the second oldest university in Australia and the oldest in Victoria...
, and the other - the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) - on St Kilda Road
St Kilda Road, Melbourne
St Kilda Road is a street in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is part of the locality of Melbourne which has the postcode of 3004 and along with Swanston Street forms a major spine of the city....
, at Southbank.
Courses and training offered at the VCA cover six academic disciplines: fine art
Fine art
Fine art or the fine arts encompass art forms developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than practical application. Art is often a synonym for fine art, as employed in the term "art gallery"....
, dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
, drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
, film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
, music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
and production, alongside the Centre for Ideas and The Wilin Centre for Indigenous
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
Arts and Cultural Development. Degree programs specialising in music performance
Performance
A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...
, composition
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
, musicology
Musicology
Musicology is the scholarly study of music. The word is used in narrow, broad and intermediate senses. In the narrow sense, musicology is confined to the music history of Western culture...
, ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology
Ethnomusicology is defined as "the study of social and cultural aspects of music and dance in local and global contexts."Coined by the musician Jaap Kunst from the Greek words ἔθνος ethnos and μουσική mousike , it is often considered the anthropology or ethnography of music...
, conducting
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
, pedagogy
Pedagogy
Pedagogy is the study of being a teacher or the process of teaching. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction....
and music therapy
Music therapy
Music therapy is an allied health profession and one of the expressive therapies, consisting of an interpersonal process in which a trained music therapist uses music and all of its facets—physical, emotional, mental, social, aesthetic, and spiritual—to help clients to improve or maintain their...
are taught at the Conservatorium, which also runs an Early Music Studio, and oversees the publishing house Lyrebird Press. Both campuses offer graduate programs including certificates and diplomas, and research and coursework awards at the masters and doctoral levels.
The library on the Southbank campus is known as the Lenton Parr Music, Visual and Performing Arts Library, whilst that at Parkville is the Louise Hanson-Dyer
Louise Hanson Dyer
Louise Berta Mosson Hanson-Dyer was an Australian-born music publisher and patron of the arts.She was born Louise Berta Mosson Smith in Melbourne, the daughter of Louis Smith, a medical practitioner and parliamentarian...
Music Library.
History of VCAM
The Faculty of the VCA and Music was created in 2009 from the amalgamation of the University's Faculty of Music (founded as the University Conservatorium in 1895) and the Victorian College of the Arts. Founded in 1972, the VCA integrated into the University of Melbourne in 2007 as a separate faculty. Due to dissatisfaction – particularly from students of the old VCA – with the structural changes imposed by the University, in November 2009 former Telstra CEO Ziggy SwitkowskiZiggy Switkowski
Dr Zygmunt "Ziggy" Edward Switkowski is a Polish Australian businessman and nuclear physicist.He is most known as the former Chief Executive Officer of Australia's largest telecommunications company Telstra, and for overseeing major aspects of the implementation and planning of its full...
was appointed to Chair a review. A number of his recommendations were adopted, resulting in the resignation of the inaugural Dean, abandonment of the previous push for full amalgamation, the creation of the present divisional structure with a more centralised administration and two relatively distinct teaching entities at the Parkville and Southbank campuses, and a change in the title of the head of the two divisions to Director. The appointment of a new Dean under this new structure, occurred in 2011.
This was not the first time, however, that sharing of resources across two institutions had been attempted. In 1974, at the time of the establishment of the VCA School of Music, the original entity called the University Conservatorium was finally unincorporated. Symbolically as well as in practice, the central place of instrumental tuition at the Faculty was removed to the new VCA and replaces with a more academic syllabus. Between 1975 and 1981, the teaching of most woodwind, some brass, double bass and guitar was undertaken by VCA staff at the Southbank campus.
Although much work has been done to ensure the autonomy of the VCA, the economic climate of the late 1980s led to a full amalgamation of the VCA and the Faculty of Music that took effect on 1 July 1991. The new organisation was known as the Faculty of Music, Visual and Performing Arts. John Poynter was appointed as Dean of the new super faculty. In September, Warren Bebbington was appointed to the vacant Ormond Chair and, at the urging of staff on both sides, worked to reverse the amalgamation, which was effected in 1994.
Deans of the Faculty of the VCA and Music
- Sharman Pretty, 2009-2010
- Warren Bebbington, 2010 (Acting)
- Barry ConynghamBarry ConynghamEmeritus Professor Barry Conyngham AM is an Australian composer and academic. He has over seventy published works and over thirty recordings featuring his compositions, and his works have been premiered or performed in Australia, Japan, North and South America, the United Kingdom and Europe. His...
, 2011-present
History of the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music
The teaching of music at the University of Melbourne has been undertaken under a number of administrative structures. The first award of a degree in music (a MusBacBachelor of Music
Bachelor of Music is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree; the majority of work consists of prescribed music courses and study in applied music, usually requiring a...
) was recorded in 1879, and the first Chair of Music, endowed by Francis Ormond
Francis Ormond
Francis Ormond was a Scottish-born Australian pastoralist, member of the Parliament of Victoria and philanthropist in the areas of education and religion....
– known as the Ormond Professor of Music - was occupied from 1891, even though there was not yet a department or faculty of music at the University. Through the efforts of the first Ormond Professor, G.W.L. Marshall-Hall
Marshall Hall (musician)
George William Louis Marshall-Hall was an English-born musician, composer, conductor, poet and controversialist who lived and worked in Australia from 1891 till his death in 1915...
, this was rectified in 1894 with the founding of the University Conservatorium, whose leased premises were located in the Queen's Coffee Palace, a six-storey building on the corner of Rathdowne and Victoria Streets, Carlton.
The various names that have been used during the music department's history are:
- 1894-1926: University Conservatorium
- 1926-1992: Faculty of Music (the Conservatorium as an entity continued to exist until 1975
- 1993-1994: School of Music
- 1995-2010: Faculty of Music
- 2011-present: Melbourne Conservatorium of Music
The foundation stone for a permanent Conservatorium in Royal Parade, on the University campus, was laid by Dame Nellie Melba
Nellie Melba
Dame Nellie Melba GBE , born Helen "Nellie" Porter Mitchell, was an Australian operatic soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian Era and the early 20th century...
on 26 November 1909, and the building, designed by Bates, Peebles & Smart
Bates Smart
Bates Smart is Australia's second oldest architectural firm, established in 1853 by Joseph Reed as the practice Reed and Barnes. JPE Design Studio in Adelaide founded in 1851 by Daniel Garlick is the oldest continuing architectural practice in Australia....
, was opened in 1913. Assisted by a donation of £1,000 from a benefit concert arranged by Melba, which was matched by the Victorian State Government, the concert room now known as Melba Hall was added and opened by the Governor-General, Lord Denman
Thomas Denman, 3rd Baron Denman
Thomas Denman, 3rd Baron Denman GCMG, KCVO, PC was a British Liberal politician and the fifth Governor-General of Australia.-Early years:...
, on 29 October 1913.
The Conservatorium became the Faculty of Music within the University of Melbourne in 1926, and the first Dean was appointed. This was to be the administrative structure for the next 65 years.
Ormond Professor of Music
- G.W.L. Marshall-HallMarshall Hall (musician)George William Louis Marshall-Hall was an English-born musician, composer, conductor, poet and controversialist who lived and worked in Australia from 1891 till his death in 1915...
, 1891-1900 - Franklin Peterson, 1901-1914
- G.W.L. Marshall-HallMarshall Hall (musician)George William Louis Marshall-Hall was an English-born musician, composer, conductor, poet and controversialist who lived and worked in Australia from 1891 till his death in 1915...
, 1915 - William Laver, 1915-1925
- Sir Bernard HeinzeBernard HeinzeSir Bernard Thomas Heinze, AC was an Australian Professor of Music, conductor, and Director of the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music....
, 1926-1957 - George Loughlin, 1958-1979
- Michael Brimer, 1980-1989
- Warren Bebbington, 1991-2008
- Gary McPherson, 2009-present
Directors of the University Conservatorium
- G.W.L. Marshall-HallMarshall Hall (musician)George William Louis Marshall-Hall was an English-born musician, composer, conductor, poet and controversialist who lived and worked in Australia from 1891 till his death in 1915...
, 1895-1900 - Franklin Peterson, 1901-1914
- William Laver, 1915-1925
- Sir Bernard HeinzeBernard HeinzeSir Bernard Thomas Heinze, AC was an Australian Professor of Music, conductor, and Director of the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music....
, 1926-1957 - J. Sutton Crow, 1943-1945
- George Loughlin, 1958-1974
Deans of the Faculty of Music
- Bernard HeinzeBernard HeinzeSir Bernard Thomas Heinze, AC was an Australian Professor of Music, conductor, and Director of the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music....
, 1926-1942 - J. Sutton Crow, 1943 (Acting)
- Sir Bernard HeinzeBernard HeinzeSir Bernard Thomas Heinze, AC was an Australian Professor of Music, conductor, and Director of the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music....
, 1944-1952 - Charles Moorhouse, 1953 (Acting)
- Sir Bernard HeinzeBernard HeinzeSir Bernard Thomas Heinze, AC was an Australian Professor of Music, conductor, and Director of the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music....
, 1954-1957 - Donald Cochrane, 1957 (Acting)
- George Loughlin, 1958-1965
- Richard Samuel, 1966
- George Loughlin, 1967-1970
- Raymond Martin, 1971
- George Loughlin, 1972-1974
- Maxwell Cooke, 1975-1980
- Michael BrimerMichael BrimerMichael Brimer is a pianist, organist, conductor, composer, and academic.He was born in South Africa and studied with Eleanor Bonnar, a pupil of Leopold Godowsky. He continued studies at the University of Cape Town, the Royal College of Music, the Royal School of Church Music in London and at the...
, 1981-1985 - Ronald Farren-Price, 1986-1990
Head of the School of Music within the Faculty of Music, Visual and Performing Arts
- John Griffiths, 1991 (Acting)
- Warren Bebbington, 1992-1994
Deans of the Faculty of Music (re-instituted)
- Warren Bebbington, 1994-2006
- Cathy Falk, 2007 (Acting)
- Cathy Falk, 2008
- Gary McPherson, 2009-2010
Well-known Alumni of the Conservatorium and Faculty
- Don BanksDon BanksDonald Oscar Banks was an Australian composer of concert, jazz, and commercial music.He initially studied at the University of Melbourne, then moved to London where he studied with Mátyás Seiber...
, composer - Ruth Bright, music therapist
- Leonard DommettLeonard DommettLeonard Bertram Dommett OBE was an Australian violinist, conductor and teacher.-Biography:Leonard Dommett was born in Toowoomba, Queensland, where his father ran a general store...
, violinist and conductor - George DreyfusGeorge DreyfusGeorge Dreyfus AM is an Australian contemporary classical, film and television composer.-Life:The Dreyfus family moved in 1935 to Berlin to enable a better education for their two sons...
, AM, composer - Ronald Farren-Price, pianist
- Rex Hobcroft, composer
- Robert Hughes, composer
- Keith Humble, composer
- Wilfred Lehmann, violinist and conductor
- Peter SculthorpePeter SculthorpePeter Joshua Sculthorpe AO OBE is an Australian composer. Much of his music has resulted from an interest in the music of Australia's neighbours as well as from the impulse to bring together aspects of native Australian music with that of the heritage of the West...
, composer - Nancy WeirNancy WeirNancy Mary Weir was an Australian pianist and teacher.-Biography:Nancy was born in Kew, Melbourne on 13 July 1915. Her father was a publican who ran a small hotel in Lockhart, near Wagga Wagga, and Nancy grew up "behind the bar" as she said. She studied piano with Ada Corder in Melbourne...
, pianist
History of the Victorian College of the Arts
The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) was established in 1972 by a government order under the Victorian Institute of Colleges Act 1955, initiated by the Premier of Victoria and Minister for the Arts Rupert HamerRupert Hamer
Sir Rupert James Hamer, AC, KCMG, ED , generally known until he was knighted in 1982 as Dick Hamer, Australian Liberal Party politician, was the 39th Premier of Victoria, serving from 1972 to 1981.-Early years:...
. Subsequently, in 1973 the VCA was affiliated as a college of advanced education with the Victorian Institute of Colleges. The National Gallery of Victoria Art School, founded in 1867 to teach fine art, was the VCA's foundation school. This was followed by the establishment of the School of Music in 1974, the School of Drama in 1976, the School of Dance in 1978 and Film and Television (1992).
Lindsay Thompson
Lindsay Hamilton Simpson Thompson AO, CMG , Australian Liberal Party politician, was the 40th Premier of Victoria from June 1981 to April 1982...
established the Victorian College of the Arts Technical School, a government secondary school for dancers and musicians (see VCASS
Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School
Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School , is a state government selective school in Victoria, Australia; a leading school and trainer of talented young dancers and musicians. Located in Southbank, within the Melbourne Arts Precinct, VCASS teaches students from Year 7 to 12...
)in close association with the VCA and located on the same campus.
In March 1981, the Minister for the Arts Norman Lacy
Norman Lacy
Norman Henry Lacy, Australian politician, is a former Victorian Government Minister from May 1979 to April 1982 who grew up in Richmond, Victoria and three times represented his state at national under age basketball championships...
had the Victorian College of the Arts Act passed through the Victorian Parliament. Its purpose was the reconstitution of the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) made necessary by the repeal in 1980 of the Victorian Institute of Colleges Act and to make it "better able to provide for the preparation of young people to enter upon careers as professional artists. It also represents a most significant development for the Victorian Arts Centre."
Lacy laid out a rationale for the re-constitution of the College under a VCA specific Act which was derived firstly "from the quite specific demands and circumstances of preparing young artists for professional practise." He asserted that "the basic concept upon which the college is built is that young artists intending to enter careers as practitioners in their various fields are best assisted to achieve their ambitions in a milieu of continuous artistic activity and endeavour of a fully professional nature. To the extent that artistic education is separated from normal professional practice it is so much less effective." Secondly, the rationale related to the adjacent location of the VCA campus to the National Gallery of Victoria
National Gallery of Victoria
The National Gallery of Victoria is an art gallery and museum in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest and the largest public art gallery in Australia. Since December 2003, NGV has operated across two sites...
and the Victorian Arts Centre
The Arts Centre (Melbourne)
The Victorian Arts Centre is a performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, located in the inner Melbourne suburb of Southbank in Victoria, Australia....
. He said that this "Greater Arts Centre concept is central to the Government's decision to reconstitute the college by separate statute as well as to the development of the arts in general. It represents a simple, readily achievable and highly effective means of creating a substantial milieu of continuous professional activity of the highest standards. It also has ramifications which extend far beyond the college and its partner institutions. Its implementation will shape and invigorate the arts in many ways and lead to a dynamic, cultural and social facility without peer in Australia" and that it "afforded an unparalleled opportunity and challenge to present total programmes in the arts which should encourage creative exchanges between the art forms, give inspiration to students of the arts and provide for the public an experience which few places in the world can match." The Government therefore believed that the VCA's role was substantially different from other educational institutions.
Victoria College, Melbourne
Victoria College was a College of Advanced Education in Melbourne, Australia. It was created as a result of the merger on December 23 1981 of the State College of Victoria colleges at Burwood, Rusden and Toorak with the Prahran College of Advanced Education...
(formerly Prahran College of Advanced Education), were incorporated into the School of Art. In 2006 the VCA was an affiliated college of the University of Melbourne, and on 1 January 2007 the VCA became known as the Faculty of the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. In April 2009 the school became part of the new Faculty of the VCA and Music (VCAM). The School of Music was amalgamated with the University of Melbourne's Faculty of Music, and the VCA Secondary School was separated and given a new campus.
With the University requiring the VCA to introduce its Melbourne Model
Melbourne Model
The Melbourne Model is a radical restructuring of the undergraduate curriculum of the University of Melbourne, located in Victoria, Australia, one of the country's richest universities...
course structure, necessitating a reduction in the amount of hands-on arts training that students receive, critics feared that future students might be unable to find employment upon graduation. Staff of the former VCA accused the Dean, Sharman Pretty, of having "little or no recognition of the need for focused arts training, or any esteem for the arts themselves," and the University of Melbourne of trying to mislead the public about the effects. Students were also fearful a reduction in the quality of education and programs on offer whilst the school remained under the University of Melbourne.
Deans or Heads of the VCA
The policy of the VCA has always been to enroll only those students who demonstrate the talent and dedication essential for courses as practising artists and performers. Similarly, members of the academic staff, including the Director and the Dean of each school, have themselves been accomplished and practising artists.- Lenton ParrLenton ParrLenton Parr was an Australian sculptor and teacher born in East Coburg, Victoria.He spent eight years in the Royal Australian Air Force before enrolling to study sculpture at the Royal Melbourne Technical College , then worked in England 1955–57 as an assistant to Henry Moore...
AM, Founding Dean, 1972–1975 - William KellyWilliam Kelly (artist)William Kelly is an American artist, humanist and human-rights advocate. He was born in Buffalo, New York and received his artistic training at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and the National Gallery School in Melbourne, Victoria . He is also a Fulbright Fellow and former Dean of the...
, 1975–1982 - John Walker, 1982–1985
- Gareth Sanson, 1986–1991
- Norman Baggaley, 1991–1997
- Mostyn Bramley-Moore, 1997–1999
- Su Baker 2000-2010
Well-known Alumni of the VCA
Actors- Sibylla BuddSibylla BuddSibylla Budd is an Australian actress best known for her role in the television series The Secret Life Of Us.-Early life and education:...
, actor and documentary presenter - Vince ColosimoVince ColosimoVincenzo Colosimo is an Australian AFI Award winning stage, television and screen actor. He has worked in both Australia and the United States.-Personal life:...
, actor and Australian Film Institute AwardAustralian Film Institute AwardsThe Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Award, known as the AACTA Award , is an accolade presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts . The awards recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry and television industry, including directors,...
winner - Jonny PasvolskyJonny PasvolskyJonathan Marc Pasvolsky known as Jonny Pasvolsky is an Australian actor best known for his role in McLeod's Daughters, which he received a nomination for as "Most Popular New Male Talent" at the Logie Awards of 2006.He starred as Mr...
, actor and Logie Award nominee - Hannie RaysonHannie Rayson-Biography:Rayson was born in Melbourne, Victoria and graduated from the University of Melbourne and the Victorian College of Arts. She has worked as a freelance journalist and editor in addition to her primary career as playwright and screenwriter. Rayson was the co-founder of the community...
, actor and playwright - Nadia TownsendNadia TownsendNadia Townsend is an Australian dramatic actress. She is best known for her role in the Channel 7 police drama City Homicide, as Detective Senior Constable Allie Kingston...
, actor and theatre director - Ashley ZukermanAshley ZukermanAshley Zukerman is an actor best known for his role as Senior Constable Michael Sandrelli in Rush, an Australian TV series in which he was nominated for the Graham Kennedy Award for Most Outstanding New Talent in 2009. He was born in Santa Monica, California and moved to Melbourne with his family...
, actor and Logie Award nominee
Visual artists
- Steve CoxSteve Cox (artist)Steve Cox is an Australian painter and watercolour artist known for his psychologically penetrating images of youths and young men.-Early life and education:...
, painter and watercolourist - Hugh DaviesHugh Davies (artist)Hugh Davies , is an Australian media arts practitioner, researcher and educator.Born in Darwin, Australia, Davies trained at the Victorian College of the Arts from 1997 to 1999, Copenhagen Technical Academy from 2003 to 2005, and has since held lecturing positions at the Adelaide Centre for the...
, mixed media artist - Bill HensonBill HensonBill Henson is an Australian contemporary art photographer.-Background:Henson's art has been exhibited in many locations, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Venice Biennale, the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, the Art Gallery of New South Wales in...
, photographer and artist - Pamela IrvingPamela IrvingPamela Irving is a prominent Australian Visual artist specialising in bronze, ceramic and mosaic sculptures as well as printmaking and copper etchings...
, artist and educator - Anastasia KloseAnastasia KloseAnastasia Klose is an Australian contemporary artist. Her work has received much attention in the art world due to the personal nature of her subject matter, often putting herself in humiliating situations. She is a graduate of both the Victorian College of the Arts and the University of Melbourne...
, video artist and Biennale of SydneyBiennale of SydneyThe Biennale of Sydney is an international festival of contemporary art, held every two years in Sydney, Australia. It is the largest and best-attended contemporary visual arts event in the country...
representative - Azlan McLennanAzlan McLennanAzlan McLennan is a visual artist and socialist activist based in Melbourne, Australia. He is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts...
, artist and activist - Lewis Miller, painter, Archibald PrizeArchibald PrizeThe Archibald Prize is regarded as the most important portraiture prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after a bequest from J. F. Archibald, the editor of The Bulletin who died in 1919...
winner - Stieg PerssonStieg PerssonStieg Persson is an Australian contemporary artist. Persson was born in Melbourne, Australia. His undergraduate studies were at the Victorian College of the Arts from 1979 to 1981. He completed a Masters degree from the same institution in 1998...
, painter - Patricia PiccininiPatricia PiccininiPatricia Piccinini is an Australian artist and hyperrealist sculptor. Her art work came to prominence in Australia in the late 1990s. In 2003 she was selected as the artist to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale....
, sculptor and Venice BiennaleVenice BiennaleThe Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
representative - Ricky SwallowRicky SwallowRicky Swallow is an Australian sculptor , who lives and works in Los Angeles. He creates detailed pieces and installations in a variety of media, often utilising objects of everyday life as well as the body . He first came to prominence in Australia when he won the Contempora 5 Prize in Melbourne...
, sculptor and Venice Biennale representative - Van Thanh RuddVan Thanh RuddVan Thanh Rudd is a Vietnamese Australian artist, activist and the nephew of Australian former-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. His artworks have created controversies due to their left-wing political content...
, artist and activist - Timothy James WebbTimothy James WebbTimothy James Webb, as a musician also known as Tim J. Webb , is an Australian painter and sculptor, who has been living in Munich, Germany, since 2000.- Biography :...
, artist - Marcus WillsMarcus WillsMarcus Wills is an Australian artist. He graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in 1995.He was the winner of the 2006 Archibald Prize for his painting of The Paul Juraszek Monolith, which was based on an engraving by Marcus Gheeraerts the Elder.In 2000, he won the second Brett Whiteley...
, painter and Archibald Prize winner - John DahlsenJohn DahlsenJohn Dahlsen is an award-winning Australian contemporary environmental artist. He uses found objects, primarily plastic bags, from Australian beaches in his work.-Biography:...
, environmental artist
Filmmakers
- Gillian ArmstrongGillian ArmstrongGillian May Armstrong is an award-winning Australian director of feature films and documentaries.- Career :Born in Melbourne, Victoria, Gillian Armstrong grew up in the eastern suburb of Mitcham. She graduated from Swinburne Technical College in 1968 where she studied theatrical costume design and...
, director - Jill BilcockJill BilcockJill Bilcock is an Australian film editor.Bilcock was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. She is a graduate of the Swinburne College of Technology. She won the 2002 Eddie Award for Moulin Rouge!, for which she also received a nomination for the Academy Award for Film Editing...
, editor - Adam ElliotAdam ElliotAdam Elliot is an independent stop-motion animation writer and director based in Melbourne, Australia. His five films have collectively participated in over six-hundred film festivals and have received over one hundred awards, including an Oscar for Harvie Krumpet and the Annecy Cristal for Mary...
, animator and Academy Award winner - Robert LuketicRobert LuketicRobert Luketic is an Australian film director. He directed the films Monster-in-Law, Legally Blonde and 21.-Early life:...
, director - Sarah WattSarah WattSarah Ann Watt was an Australian film director.Born in Sydney, Watt completed a Graduate Diploma of Film and Television at the Swinburne School of Film and Television, Melbourne in 1990. Her student film "Catch of the Day" was to reflect the style of future work...
, writer and director - Geoffrey WrightGeoffrey WrightGeoffrey Wright is an Australian film director, born in Melbourne in 1959.He gained cult success with the 1992 film Romper Stomper, which starred Russell Crowe. In 1994, he directed the gritty suburban thriller film Metal Skin, starring Ben Mendelsohn, and later directed the teen horror film...
, writer, director and Australian Film Institute Award nominee
Musicians
- Harry James AngusHarry James AngusHarry James Angus is an Australian singer-songwriter, trumpet player and guitarist. He is one of the lead vocalists in the Melbourne band The Cat Empire along with Felix Riebl. He joined the group in early 2000...
, trumpeter and vocalist for The Cat EmpireThe Cat EmpireThe Cat Empire are an Australian ska and jazz band formed in 1999. Core members are Harry James Angus , Will Hull-Brown , Jamshid "Jumps" Khadiwhala , Ollie McGill , Ryan Monro and Felix Riebl... - Cheryl BarkerCheryl BarkerCheryl Barker is an Australian operatic soprano who has had an active international career since the late 1980s. She has sung on several complete opera recordings with Chandos Records, including Dvořák's Rusalka , Janáček's The Makropulos Case , Janáček's Káťa Kabanová , and Puccini's Madama...
, opera singer - Michael BarkerMichael Barker (drummer)Michael Barker is a New Zealand percussion musician best known for performing with many Australasian acts, including The John Butler Trio and Split Enz.-Early musical education:...
, drummer for John Butler TrioJohn Butler TrioThe John Butler Trio are an eclectic roots and jam band from Australia led by guitarist and vocalist John Butler. They formed in Fremantle in 1998 with Jason McGann on drums and Gavin Shoesmith on bass guitar...
and Split EnzSplit EnzSplit Enz were a New Zealand band of the 1970s and early 1980s featuring Phil Judd and brothers Tim Finn and Neil Finn. They achieved chart success in New Zealand, Australia, and Canada during the early 1980s ‒ most notably with the single "I Got You", and built a cult following elsewhere... - Diana DohertyDiana DohertyDiana Doherty is an Australian oboist, currently Principal Oboe with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.-Life:Diana Doherty was born in Brisbane, where she began her education. She attended Brisbane State High School...
, oboe soloist with the New York PhilharmonicNew York PhilharmonicThe New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"... - Julian GavinJulian GavinJulian Gavin is an Australian-born operatic tenor who has sung leading roles both in the United Kingdom and internationally. His full-length opera recordings include Don José in Carmen and the title roles in Ernani and Don Carlos for Chandos Records.-Biography:Julian Gavin was born in Melbourne to...
. opera singer - Antoinette HalloranAntoinette Halloran-Education:Antoinette Halloran is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts where she won the Mabel Kent Scholarship and completed a Diploma of Arts ; she has an Honours Degree in Music from the University of Melbourne. In 1993 she studied at the New England Conservatory in Boston.-Career:In...
, opera singer - Liza LimLiza LimLiza Lim is an Australian composer.Lim writes concert music as well as music theatre and has collaborated with artists on a number of installation and video projects...
, composer - Ian MunroIan Munro (pianist)Ian Munro is an Australian pianist, composer, writer and music educator. His career has taken him to over 30 countries in Europe, Asia, North America and Australasia.-Biography:...
, pianist and composer - Ryan MonroRyan MonroRyan Monro is an Australian bassist, known for playing with Australian ska/jazz band The Cat Empire. He has been bassist for The Cat Empire since its inception and also plays in jazz trio "The Genie", which includes fellow Cat Empire members, Ollie McGill on keyboards and Will Hull Brown on...
, bassist for The Cat Empire - Patrick SavagePatrick Savage (composer/musician)Patrick Savage is an Australian-born film composer and violinist best known for his collaboration with Holeg Spies on the score for The Human Centipede.He was also formerly principal first violin with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, UK...
, film composer and former principal first violin with the Royal Philharmonic OrchestraRoyal Philharmonic OrchestraThe Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...