Please find below an email from Peter McPhee to the staff mailing list sharing the announcement of the new Faculty of the VCA and Music. Discuss this post by clicking here.

Dear colleagues,

We write to share with you the announcement (below) of the new
Faculty of the VCA and Music.

Peter McPhee
Provost

Philippa Pattison
President
Academic Board

NEW FACULTY OF VCA AND MUSIC TO SET ‘GOLD STANDARD’ IN ARTS
EDUCATION

A ‘gold standard’ in higher education and training in the arts will
be the hallmark of a proposed new Faculty of the VCA and Music at
the University of Melbourne.

The new Faculty brings together the comprehensive teaching and
research of two world-class University of Melbourne faculties - the
Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) and the Faculty of Music - to
make the most powerful and comprehensive higher education and
training institution for the arts in Australia.

A proposal for the new Faculty from the VCA Integration Committee
will go to the University of Melbourne Council’s meeting in May.

To operate from 2009, the Faculty of the VCA and Music will comprise
three newly-shaped Schools - Art, Music and Performing Arts. All
current Music and VCA courses will continue to be offered through
the newly-structured Faculty. The VCA’s Film and Television school
programs will be delivered through the Faculty’s graduate program.

The new School will deliver courses at both Parkville and Southbank.

The University’s two music teaching and research arms - the Faculty
of Music and the VCA School of Music - will come together in a
single school of music with a strong identity and a clear vision for
international excellence in music training and education,
scholarship and research.

An international recruitment campaign will commence shortly for a
Head of the new School of Music.

It is expected that the new School of Music will offer a single new
music degree with several specialist streams which reflect the
current range of offerings. The course will have strong links with
the music profession, offering internship and mentorship
experiences, opportunities for study overseas, a strong career
development orientation, and a suite of graduate courses.

It will continue to offer an education in all music specialisations
of the highest quality, building on the distinctive strengths of
both the Faculty of Music and VCA School of Music in music
performance (both classical and contemporary), improvisation,
musicology and ethnomusicology, music therapy, music education,
composition and conducting, and opera and music theatre.

Merit-based scholarships and awards will be available for many
students at both undergraduate and graduate levels.

The current New Generation Bachelor of Music and the Bachelor of
Music Performance will each have an intake in 2009.

The new School will provide an opportunity for every student
undertaking a New Generation degree at Melbourne to include music
studies in their undergraduate experience.

Director of the VCA, Professor Andrea Hull says the proposed
creation of a new music school drawing on the strengths of two great
music entities is a real win for quality music education. “The
Faculty of the VCA and Music will continue to reflect the best in
contemporary and innovative approaches to education and training for
artists”, she said.

Current Dean of the Faculty of Music, Professor Catherine Falk, says
the vision for the new School is to provide music education and
research of international quality, substance, thoroughness and
breadth, ranging across historical and geographical boundaries to
reflect society’s changing social and cultural dynamics.

Earlier this year the VCA announced that Kristy Edmunds, artistic
director of the Melbourne International Arts Festival, will lead the
School of Performing Arts.

The School of Performing Arts will embrace the disciplines of Dance,
Drama and Production (including Puppetry). It is designed to meet
an increasing need to support the creative vision and dedicated
performance output of VCA staff and students.

All existing courses in both the Faculties of Music and the VCA will
be offered in 2009, and all currently-enrolled students will be able
to complete their courses.

A detailed plan and timetable - drawn up in consultation with key
stakeholders - is designed to enable a seamless transition to the
new Faculty structure in 2009.

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