Professor Emma Redding
Director, Victorian College of the Arts

Director's welcome

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.

VCA 50th: Celebrating the arts since 1972

Wominjeka

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.

Student modelling a face out of clay material

Our heritage

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 Today

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.

Our Discipline Areas

Acting and Theatre

Strengthen your performance and devising skills. Explore acting, devising, writing, dramaturgy and staging, with intensive, project-based learning. Enjoy and be challenged by collaborative practice on national and international productions.

Creative Arts Therapy

Combine dance or drama with skills in health and wellbeing to become a registered creative arts therapist. This graduate study teaches you to engage with clients across the lifespan while undertaking clinical placements in diverse settings.

Dance

Become part of the future of Australian dance. Prepare for a creatively and technically challenging career. Learn skills in contemporary and classical dance, across performance and choreography.

Design and Production

Train to become a world-class production designer, technician or manager by specialising in technical production or design fields. Prepare for work in live performance, events, or film and television.

Film and Television

Explore animation, screenwriting, direction and editing. Collaborate on an industry-standard short film. Develop critical analysis and apply it to your work as a cinematographer, director or editor. Engage with the broader history of screen culture.

Indigenous Arts and Culture

Study with the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development. Through independent research, develop advanced skills in Indigenous arts and culture. Explore performance, writing, film, video or multimedia.

Music Theatre

Build on your talent to become an industry-ready, professional performer. Train in singing, acting and dancing, both individually and in combination. Develop your sense of individual expression through public performance.

Visual Art

Immerse yourself in studio-based practice. Experiment with concepts, materials, techniques and processes. Prepare for a career as a visual artist, or in a related field, like art curation, preserving artwork or design.

Writing

Adopt an audience-driven perspective. Write for formats including film, television, gaming and online. Learn to interpret and apply critical analysis. Collaborate with peers to bring productions to life.

News

If you're looking for inspiration, go out and find it: Inside Lloyd Newson's workshops at the VCA

5 September 2023
The VCA recently welcomed renowned choreographer Lloyd Newson to campus for a series of workshops with Dance and Theatre students. These sessions saw students work across disc...

Me and my mentor: Britt Salt and Hannah Gartside

25 August 2023
Visual artists Britt Salt and Hannah Gartside are both interested in real bodies moving through their installations. They were paired as part of the VCA Masters Mentoring prog...

Me and my mentor: Marion Harper and Vera Möller

18 August 2023
Visual artists Marion Harper and Vera Möller were paired as part of the VCA Masters Mentoring program. Here they talk about each other's work and the two-way generative proces...

Research at the VCA

Undertake scholarly, studio or performance-based research and practice within the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. Discover opportunities for collaborative and interdisciplinary development.

Explore research