Welcome to the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music

Latest News

• Innovative music program for children with disabilities seeks new cohort for 2025

  11 October 2024

  A University of Melbourne research program run in conjunction with Melbourne Youth Orchestras (MYO), the Adaptive Music Bridging Program, is currently seeking a new cohort of young musicians to join its program in 2025.

  • Melbourne Conservatorium of Music

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• New exhibition Chronomingle explores the interplay of time, culture and storytelling

  10 October 2024

  The University of Melbourne’s Project8 Gallery will next week launch a new exhibition exploring the nature of storytelling across different historical and cultural contexts.

  • Victorian College of the Arts

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• Sydney Dance Company’s momenta – a breathtaking study in perpetual motion

  09 October 2024

  Artistic director Rafael Bonachela’s latest work for the Sydney Dance Company, momenta, had its Melbourne premiere on 8 October at the Playhouse Theatre in the Arts Centre.

  • Dance

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• What the Paiwanese nose flute tells us about ‘intangible culture’

  07 October 2024

  Archives are strange things. On one hand, they are repositories of the past and the people that came before us. On the other, they are partial snapshots that do not adequately capture diverse cultural practices. The Paiwan worldview is a particularly salient example.

  • News

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• Unique performance co-created by VCA Theatre students to feature at Alter State festival

  01 October 2024

  An innovative durational performance event created by Joshua Pether in collaboration with Bachelor of Fine Arts (Theatre) students from the Victorian College of the Arts at the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music will feature as part of disability-led arts initiative Alter State 2024.

  • Victorian College of the Arts

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• David Balfour appointed Head of Film and Television

  24 September 2024

  David Balfour has been appointed as the new Head of Film and Television at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) within the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Fine Arts and Music.

  • Victorian College of the Arts

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• University of Melbourne and Australian Chamber Orchestra partnership renewal spotlights the value of music and education at every level

  24 September 2024

  University of Melbourne students and staff, and Victorian primary school students, will be among the key beneficiaries of a seven-year extension to the University’s exclusive partnership with the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO). The two-part partnership renewal will launch in 2025 — t...

  • Melbourne Conservatorium of Music

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• In Conversation with the Creators of 'Paper City'

  17 September 2024

  Paper City follows the survivors of a US air attack on eastern Tokyo. Now in their twilight years, the survivors battle for recognition and reparations under a government reluctant to acknowledge them. Currently having its world premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), we spoke ...

  • News

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• Oscar: the tragedy and beauty of Wilde’s life, and an historic moment on the ballet stage

  16 September 2024

  Christopher Wheeldon and The Australian Ballet’s Oscar, which had its world premiere in Melbourne on September 13, is based on the story of Oscar Wilde: the writer, the man, the protester.

  • Victorian College of the Arts

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• Creative industries forum in Delhi strengthens cross-cultural collaboration

  16 September 2024

  The India and Australia Creative Connections Forum, held recently in Delhi, was an important milestone celebrating cross-cultural collaboration and innovation within the creative sectors of both countries. The event brought together creative minds from across a range of art disciplines to explore ne...

  • International

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• Documentary co-produced by VCA lecturers premieres at Melbourne International Film Festival

  06 August 2024

  A documentary feature film co-produced by Senior Lecturers in Film and Television at the Victorian College of the Arts, Dr Donna Lyon and Shannon Owen, will premiere at the 2024 Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF).

  • Victorian College of the Arts

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• Magnificent and humbling: Paris opening ceremony was a tribute to witnessing superhuman feats of the extraordinary

  29 July 2024

  • Victorian College of the Arts

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• New exhibition Crepusculum explores and questions established notions of ‘light’ and ‘dark’

  25 July 2024

  The University of Melbourne’s Project8 Gallery will next week launch a new exhibition exploring the interplay of ‘light’ and ‘dark’, challenging established distinctions that have historically shaped our perceptions of these notions.

  • Victorian College of the Arts

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• Melbourne Conservatorium of Music appoints new Wind Symphony conductor

  24 July 2024

  The Melbourne Conservatorium of Music is delighted to announce Dr Jaclyn Hartenberger’s appointment as Associate Professor of Wind Conducting.

  • Melbourne Conservatorium of Music

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• Music Psychology student wins University’s Visualise Your Thesis competition

  22 July 2024

  Music Psychology PhD student Sabrina McKenzie has recently won the University of Melbourne’s Visualise Your Thesis competition.

  • Melbourne Conservatorium of Music

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• 'I didn’t know theatre for young people could be so radical and innovative': Meet VCA graduate Sophia Derkenne

  09 July 2024

  Meet Sophia Derkenne: an artist, and graduate of the Bachelor of Fine Arts (Theatre) program at the VCA. Hear from Sophia as they share insights on how their VCA training shaped their artistic practice, valuable lessons learned at the VCA, and how the experience bestowed a real sense of community an...

  • Victorian College of the Arts

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• Destination Opera: Opera Studies students and alumni take to stages around the world

  01 July 2024

  In 2024 current students and graduates of Opera Studies from the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music are being noticed, not only within the state, but internationally, writes Professor Jane Davidson.

  • Melbourne Conservatorium of Music

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• University of Melbourne to host inaugural Music Theatre Futures conference

  20 June 2024

  The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) at the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Fine Arts and Music is proud to host the inaugural Music Theatre Futures conference next month — the first in-person conference for music theatre in Australia.

  • Victorian College of the Arts

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• VCA Director Professor Emma Redding receives MBE for services to dance

  18 June 2024

  A huge congratulations to Professor Emma Redding, who recently received her MBE for services to dance. The honour was bestowed by Princess Anne at a ceremony at Windsor Castle.

  • Victorian College of the Arts

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• 'A sense of joy and jubilation' — Enterprise Professor Natalie King reflects on the 2024 Venice Biennale

  12 June 2024

  Natalie King is a leading Australian curator, writer and senior researcher engaged with artists and institutions across the Asia-Pacific region. Currently Enterprise Professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, Natalie has extensive curatorial experience in contemporary art across Australia, Asi...

  • Victorian College of the Arts

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• Riverdance at 30: How Riverdance shaped Irish dance, and reflected a multicultural Australia

  30 May 2024

  Ireland won the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, but their victory was overshadowed by the seven-minute interval “filler” that received a standing ovation.The combined talents of Jean Butler, Michael Flatley and their supporting cast showcased Irish dance in a new, exciting way in an item c...

  • Victorian College of the Arts

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• Four productions showcase student work across Acting, Dance, Music Theatre and Design and Production programs

  29 May 2024

  Students from the Victorian College of the Arts’ Acting, Dance, Music Theatre and Design and Production programs will this week launch the first of four productions as part of the 2024 mid-year student work showcase.

  • Victorian College of the Arts

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• 'A fragment of something much bigger' — new exhibition showcases paintings by Paul Maymuru

  15 May 2024

  A new exhibition showcasing expansive works by Maŋgalili artist Paul Maymuru will open next week at the University of Melbourne’s Fiona and Sidney Myer Gallery.

  • Victorian College of the Arts

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• University of Melbourne upskills film students using the latest Hollywood technology

  01 May 2024

  Cutting-edge virtual production technology that’s being used in Hollywood, is now available to students and industry practitioners at the University of Melbourne, with a new facility opening at the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music’s Southbank campus.

  • Film and Television

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• Triennial competition opens to celebrate talented young violinists

  26 April 2024

  Australia’s finest young violinists will once again compete for a total prize pool of $55,000 in the country’s most generous violin scholarship, the University of Melbourne’s Dorcas McClean Travelling Scholarship.

  • Melbourne Conservatorium of Music

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• New exhibition 'Oscilloforms' explores links between contemporary art and its historical precursors

  19 April 2024

  An exciting new exhibition will open at the University of Melbourne’s Project8 Gallery next week exploring the relationship between twenty-first century artforms and their historical underpinnings.

  • Victorian College of the Arts

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• 'We are all artists' — Renowned human rights educator visits University of Melbourne

  17 April 2024

  Internationally renowned human rights speaker and educator Professor André de Quadros recently presented the public lecture ‘Freedom dreaming, storytelling, and reconciliation: The arts in a new world’ at the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Fine Arts and Music.

  • Melbourne Conservatorium of Music

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• VCA Film and Television students make 'Fast Films' in new collaboration

  10 April 2024

  Students from the Victorian College of the Arts recently travelled to Shepparton to participate in a whirlwind movie-making experience with students from the Greater Shepparton Secondary College. Working together in teams, the students brainstormed concepts and wrote scripts, then shot, edited and s...

  • Victorian College of the Arts

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• The Philip Hunter Fellowship to support new play exploring pivotal moments in climate science history

  10 April 2024

  Emerging playwright Jason O'Leary (Master of Theatre (Writing) VCA 2023) has been awarded the 2023 Philip Hunter Fellowship to develop Spring's Decline, a new play dramatising key events and figures that have impacted our planet's environment.

  • News

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• Musicologist Linda Barwick receives Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award

  09 April 2024

  Renowned Australian musicologist Emeritus Professor Linda Barwick has been announced as the recipient of the 2024 Sir Bernard Heinze Memorial Award.

  • Melbourne Conservatorium of Music

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• Left Write Hook program reaches new milestone with latest funding announcement

  09 April 2024

  A project co-led by Faculty of Fine Arts and Music researcher Dr Donna Lyon has recently been awarded a Federal Government grant to assess the project’s outcomes.

  • Film and Television

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• New report calls for cultural change in Australian screen industry

  14 March 2024

  A new report co-authored by University of Melbourne Senior Lecturer Jo Briscoe has found that cultural problems and destructive work conditions are leading to creative opportunity costs in the Australian screen industry.

  • Film and Television

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