Welcome to the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music

Latest News

• Podcast: Professor Sally Smart, “The power of artists is extraordinary”

  17 August 2022

  The Expert Hack Podcast sat down with Victorian College of the Arts alumna artist Professor Sally Smart to discuss how artists are influencing politics and social change.

  • Visual Art

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• Inside the musician: Stuart Greenbaum: Emerging from the darkness

  15 August 2022

  Professor in Composition at the Conservatorium, Stuart Greenbaum, has released 'A Trillion Miles of Darkness', a new album of soulful, evocative music featuring the clarinet.

  • Melbourne Conservatorium of Music

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• Herring Island inspires a new piano sonata

  12 August 2022

  Pianist Coady Green asked Linda Kouvaras to compose a work about a little-known location in Melbourne; he discusses the piece that eventuated.

  • News

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• New partnership brings students into the concert hall with the world’s leading musical talent 

  11 August 2022

  A new exclusive partnership with the Australian World Orchestra (AWO) will enable University of Melbourne Conservatorium of Music students to have unparalleled access to a network of the finest Australian musicians, working in leading orchestras and ensembles around the world and here at home.

  • Melbourne Conservatorium of Music

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• Dr Raafat Ishak and Professor Patricia Piccinini selected to create new works for the Metro Tunnel project

  09 August 2022

  Commuters travelling through Melbourne's new underground railway stations will see new commissions by Dr Raafat Ishak, Head of Painting at the VCA and Professor Patricia Piccinini, Enterprise Professor of Visual Art at the University of Melbourne.

  • Staff stories

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• (In) Corporeal Encounters Podcast Series

  02 August 2022

  Across five episodes with artists, scholars and activists working in the fields of dance and related disciplines, these critical conversations explore possibilities for future dance(r)s through an interdisciplinary weave of voices.

  • Dance

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• Deaf storytellers share knowledge and challenge audism in What I Wish I'd Told You

  02 August 2022

  By Sarah HallThere are stories that can only be told in Auslan.Artists Chelle Destefano and Claire Bridge have created a home for some of them in What I Wish I’d Told You, an immersive show of large-scale video projections centring Deaf voices, identity, language and culture, which is now open...

  • Alumni

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• With My Self in That Moment, Chamber Made gives us a dystopian view of our lost soul in the digital age

  02 August 2022

  Senior Lecturer in Music at the Conservatorium, Miriama Young, reviews My Self in That Moment, a new hybrid performance by Chamber Made for The Conversation.

  • Melbourne Conservatorium of Music

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• Head of Theatre, Associate Professor Chris Mead discussed his latest book on ABC Radio National

  01 August 2022

  Listen to Associate Professor Chris Mead, Head of Theatre at the VCA as he discusses his new book 'Wondrous Strange: Seven Brief Thoughts on New Plays' on ABC Radio National.

  • Theatre

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• Soprano Stacey Alleaume on nerves, wardrobe malfunctions and international success

  27 July 2022

  Soprano Stacey Alleaume is a superstar of Australian opera; a regular at the Sydney Opera House who has performed in some of the artform’s best-known roles. And she’s not done yet.

  • Melbourne Conservatorium of Music

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• Epic opportunity for animation students

  27 July 2022

  Animation students are creating a short film using cutting-edge 3D technology, as part of a competition from gaming company Epic Games.

  • Film and Television

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• Diploma in Music and Bachelor of Science student Thien Pham wins $10,000 James Morrison Jazz Scholarship

  27 July 2022

  Diploma in Music student Thien Pham was announced the 33rd winner of the $10,000 James Morrison Jazz Scholarship for solo instrumentalists under 19 on 8 May. The announcement was made at the biggest school jazz event in the country, Generations in Jazz in Mount Gambier, South Australia.

  • Melbourne Conservatorium of Music

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• Victorian College of the Arts researchers recipients of ABC TOP 5 Arts Media Residency Program

  25 July 2022

  Early career researchers Amaara Raheem and Yvette Grant from the University of Melbourne’s Victorian College of the Arts, have been awarded a 2022 ABC TOP 5 Arts Media Residency.

  • Partnerships

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• Director of the VCA, Professor Emma Redding appears in American Vogue

  22 July 2022

  American Vogue asked Director of the VCA, Professor Emma Redding her thoughts on the resurgence of Dance-Based fitness. Professor Redding wrote the world’s first masters degree in Dance Science, and has spent over two decades teaching and researching in the arts.

  • VCA 50

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• First Nations uni students bring Warrior documentary to UK culture showcase

  22 July 2022

  A new creative initiative between Australia and the UK will see First Nations students from the University of Melbourne showcase their culture on a global platform. Among them is Nicholas Currie, a third year Bachelor of Fine Arts (Visual Art) student at the Victorian College of the Arts. Nicholas i...

  • Indigenous Arts and Culture

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• New leadership reimagines University Museums and Collections through First Nations lens

  22 July 2022

  Professor Brook Andrew has been announced as the inaugural Reimagining Museums and Collections Director at the University of Melbourne.

  • Indigenous Arts and Culture

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• From Melbourne to London with promiscuous/cities

  19 July 2022

  by Sarah HallFor two decades, Professor Alyson Campbell has straddled the worlds of the academy and independent theatre, while recognising a tension between the two.

  • Theatre

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• Resurfacing vital Indigenous history through historic film footage

  19 July 2022

  • Wilin 20th

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• Faculty of Fine Arts and Music alumni and staff sweep up at 39th Annual Green Room Awards

  18 July 2022

  The Faculty of Fine Arts and Music congratulates our outstanding alumni and staff who were recognised at the 39th Annual Green Room Awards.

  • Alumni

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• Goran Stolevski’s 'Of an Age' to open MIFF

  12 July 2022

  by Sarah HallAfter a decade working in relative obscurity, Australian-Macedonian writer-director and VCA grad Goran Stolevski has landed in the film industry in a big way. With thirteen feature-length screenplays in his pocket, and an uncompromising artistic vision, he has hit the ground running.

  • Film and Television

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• Lengger Lanang: Immortalising a vanishing Indonesian dance with the help of motion capture technology

  11 July 2022

  New digital technologies at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) are helping to preserve Lengger Lanang, a centuries old cross-gender dance from Central Java.

  • Dance

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• Congratulations to Leah Columbine, 2022 recipient of the MSO Snare Drum Award

  07 July 2022

  Leah Columbine is a third year Bachelor of Music (Performance) student and the 2022 recipient of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) Snare Drum Award.

  • Melbourne Conservatorium of Music

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• Recent grad Danni A. Esposito making waves in sound design

  05 July 2022

  by Sarah HallSince graduating last year from a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Production), Danni A. Esposito is already making waves in the sound design industry.

  • Production

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• Professor Katrina Skewes McFerran appointed Director of the Research Development Unit

  01 July 2022

  Professor Katrina Skewes McFerran, Professor in Music Therapy and Head of the Creative Arts Therapies Research Unit in the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, has been appointed as the new Director of the Researcher Development Unit (RDU).

  • Research

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• The art and science of dance

  30 June 2022

  University of Melbourne's Professor Emma Redding wrote the world’s first masters degree in Dance Science – a now growing discipline in the dance profession

  • Music, Arts & Screen

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• How the VCA’s history can help shape Melbourne’s future

  29 June 2022

  As the University of Melbourne's VCA celebrates its 50th anniversary, what lessons can Melbourne’s post-lockdown artists draw from the institution’s history?

  • Music, Arts & Screen

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• VCA Film and Television to host the ‘Impact Australia 3’ screen writer accelerator program

  28 June 2022

  Impact Australia 3, the third iteration of the highly coveted screenwriter accelerator program, will be held in-person this year on the Victorian College of the Arts’ (VCA) Southbank campus, with the University of Melbourne as Learning Partner.

  • Partnerships

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• Sustaining song and spirit

  23 June 2022

  An Indigenous-led project including a University of Melbourne researcher has revitalised traditional Aboriginal song-and-dance, strengthening the community.

  • Music, Arts & Screen

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• VCA alum team up for Netflix teen hit series 'Surviving Summer'

  22 June 2022

  Directed by VCA alum Ben Chessell, Sian Davies and Charlotte George, with cinematography by alum Katie Milwright, Surviving Summer  has already been a Netflix hit since it was released on June 3. We spoke to Producer Joanna Werner, Set-up Director Ben Chessell, and Director of Photography (DoP)...

  • Alumni

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• Flipping the script at the Venice Biennale

  17 June 2022

  Recently returned from launching her second Venice Biennale exhibition, for Sāmoan-based artist Yuki Kihara who is representing Aotearoa New Zealand, curator Professor Natalie King OAM reflects on being part of the most diverse Biennale yet.

  • Staff stories

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• From the VCA to RISING: The many guises of Scotty So

  14 June 2022

  VCA graduate Scotty So is performing and exhibiting in this year’s RISING festival. Just don’t ask him to stick to one medium.

  • Victorian College of the Arts

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• Celebrating Kate Daw

  14 June 2022

  Kate Daw, the much-loved artist and educator who led VCA Art from 2018 – 2020, saw art as a social force deeply interwoven with everyday life.

  • Visual Art

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