The Victorian College of the Arts is known internationally as a leading tertiary institution for artistic invention. It has a proven track record of developing the change-makers of the future as evidenced by the achievements of its alumni. The VCA today offers a unique range of programs across the visual arts, performing arts and media, taught by staff who are experts in their fields.
With its unwavering commitment to diversity and inclusion, the VCA is a welcoming community of practicing artists and writers, choreographers, designers, actors, filmmakers and many more.
Situated within in the centre of the arts district in the vibrant city of Melbourne, the VCA provides fertile ground for interdisciplinary research, practice and learning. We share 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.
VCA teaching staff are well-known practising artists and researchers, committed to nurturing the potential of every student. There is strong focus on the training of technical skills alongside the development of artistic voice. We aim to both challenge and support students within a safe but stretching environment.
The global pandemic has revealed who and what society most needs. Graduates of the VCA leave us equipped with the skills, training and education needed to enrich the lives of others, through the arts and build their own sustainable careers.
Welcome to the traditional lands of the Kulin Nations, where we draw on the strength of more than 1,000 generations of arts practice.
We respectfully acknowledge the people of the Boonwurrung and the Woi Wurrung, who have danced their dances, sung their songs and lived their culture on this land for tens of thousands of years.
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.
Undertake scholarly, studio or performance-based research and practice within the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. Discover opportunities for collaborative and interdisciplinary development.