At the Victorian College of the Arts, we are committed to providing a deep and transformative learning experience in pursuit of artistic excellence and innovation. As part of the University of Melbourne's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, we offer an absorbing, conservatoire and atelier-based education that fosters critical confidence and creative risk-taking.
In choosing to study with us, you will be welcomed by a community of practicing artists and writers, choreographers, designers, performers, actors, filmmakers, dancers and many more, all committed to the production of new work and the belief in the power of the artistic mind to effect change.
Whether you are primarily studying visual art, film and television, the performing arts, or one of the many specialisations within those areas, we encourage you to explore and experiment with other disciplines. For all of our undergraduate, graduate or short-course programs, we place a premium on the development of skill and facility.
The VCA is situated in the heart of Melbourne's Arts Precinct alongside a wealth of leading arts organisations. We are co-located on the University of Melbourne's Southbank campus with our valued colleagues and peers from the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, on land occupied by more than 1,000 generations of Australia’s first peoples.
We encourage an atmosphere of trust and respect and a curiosity-driven approach to learning – one that values achievement, learns from failure and builds resilience for future challenges.
The Faculty was created in 2009 following the amalgamation of the University's Faculty of Music and Faculty of the Victorian College of the Arts. It was renamed the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music in 2018 to reflect the primary undergraduate degree structures offered by the Faculty: the Bachelor of Fine Arts and the Bachelor of Music.
The Faculty is also home to the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development, which works with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to identify, recruit and support potential and practicing Indigenous Artists to study and refine their academic and artistic skills.
The VCA was established in 1972 with the School of Art, which continued the lineage of the National Gallery of Victoria Art School, founded in 1867. This was followed by the creation of the School of Music in 1974, the School of Drama in 1976, the School of Dance in 1978 and Film and Television in 1992.
The VCA brings together an extensive range of creative disciplines, including Dance, Film and Television, Music Theatre, Production, Theatre, Visual Art and Writing. It offers a broad range of undergraduate and graduate study and research opportunities as well as short-course programs. The VCA is co-located with the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music on the University of Melbourne’s Southbank campus in the heart of Melbourne’s Arts Precinct.
Social Practice and Community Engagement