9 X 5 NOW
More than 300 artists and alumni feature in a landmark exhibition from 16–25 June 2017
The VCA is committed to providing transformative learning experience in pursuit of artistic excellence, innovation and an absorbing education. Our learning environment has an atmosphere of critical confidence and creative risk taking, as well as high expectations in development of skill and facility.
We welcome you to our community of artists from many backgrounds that are passionate and committed to the production of new artistic work.
- Degrees
We offer a broad range of undergraduate and graduate study opportunities.
- Artistic disciplines
We bring together an extensive range of creative disciplines.
- Breadth
Discover the wide range of breadth courses on offer at the Victorian College of the Arts.
- Short courses
Discover our wide range of short courses for teens and adults, from novice to experienced.
ART150: Celebrating 150 years of art
For 150 years, the Victorian College of the Arts and its predecessor institutions have nurtured the talents of many of Australia’s best-known and most-treasured artists.
ART150 reflects upon a rich and distinguished history, which began at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School, and looks towards a vibrant future for Australian art and research.
Join us throughout 2017 for an exciting program of exhibitions, workshops, public lectures and events as we celebrate 150 years of art.
Visit the ART150 websiteWOMINJEKA/Welcome to the traditional lands of the Kulin Nations, where we draw on the strength of more than 1000 generations of arts practice.
We respectfully acknowledge the people of the Boon Wurrung and the Woi Wurrung who have danced their dances, sung their songs and lived their culture on this land for tens of thousand of years.
- Monday 6:00pmArt+Australia Talks
- Tuesday 9:30amSome Artists & Philosophers Walked into a Room...
- 9x5 NOW exhibition receives huge response by Australia’s leading artists
More than 300 contemporary visual artists have contributed original artworks for the upcoming 9x5 NOW exhibition at the Margaret Lawrence Gallery as part of ART150. Read more via the ART150 website.
- Production notes: set designing at the VCA
Third-year Victorian College of the Arts student Alex Rothnie took a circuitous route into Production. His highlight so far? Working as a set designer on the VCA’s upcoming production of Mother Cou...
- New direction for Acting and Theatre at the VCA
Aspiring actors and theatre-makers will be offered two new degrees by the Victorian College of the Arts from 2018: the Bachelor of Fine Arts (Acting) and Bachelor of Fine Arts (Theatre).
- New ACMI X desks offered to University of Melbourne creatives
The University of Melbourne is pleased to announce the second round of successful applicants to the pioneering ACMI X co-working space in Melbourne’s Arts Precinct.
- VCA Art student murals enliven 11 Barry Street
New murals created by VCA art students are enlivening the elevator lobbies of the home of University Services at 11 Barry Street in Carlton. Read more via MUSSE.
- VCA & MCM March e-newsletter
Read the March edition of the VCA & MCM e-newsletter.
- Passion, Lament, Glory … a new take on an old story
Artistic director and Melbourne Conservatorium of Music Professor Jane Davidson is gearing up for a powerful Baroque music enactment of the Passion of Christ, at Melbourne’s iconic St Paul’s Cathed...
- National number-one ranking in Performing Arts for the University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne has been ranked as number one in Australia for Performing Arts in the recently-released QS World University Rankings.
- Casting JonBenét director on our obsession with the murder of a child pageant queen
Film and television alumna Kitty Green's docu-drama Casting JonBenét is "a deeply inventive, deeply complex look at a tragedy that struck a community" according to Guardian reviewer Megan Spence. R...
- Bill Henson on the Indecisive Moment
Ahead of his new exhibition at the NGV, the formidable Australian photographer and VCA alumnus talks about anti-portraiture, controversy and why the art chose him. Read more via Broadsheet.
- VCA & MCM March ART150 e-newsletter
Read the March ART150 special edition of the VCA & MCM e-newsletter.
- ART150: VCA celebrates 150 years of art in Melbourne
The Victorian College of the Arts will celebrate 150 years of art in Melbourne with a year-long program of exhibitions, workshops, public lectures and events.
- Alumnae twins awarded Asialink Arts international residencies
Twin sisters and visual art alumnae Silvana and Gabriella Mangano are among 33 artists who have been awarded international residencies through Asialink Arts. Read more via The Australian.
- Lifetime Guarantee: Alumni actors rise to the exhilarating challenge
There's some familiar faces in Ross Mueller's latest play Lifetime Guarantee, as recent acting alumni Izabella Yena and Julian Dibley-Hall steal the show. Read more via The Australian.
- Bill Henson: 'I am quite comfortable with the fact my pictures disturb people'
A visit to the celebrated alumnus photographer’s Melbourne compound reveals an uncompromising intellectual at work. Read more via smh.com.au.
- Alumna director Alethea Jones reunites with Toni Collette for Sundance Film Festival
Alumna Alethea Jones made an impact at Sundance this year where she debuted her film Fun Mom Dinner. Find out more about the director's latest feature, which stars fellow Australian Toni Collette, ...
- Melbourne's rough sleepers are attracting tourists with their street art
How do Melbourne's rough sleepers attract art fans to Melbourne's laneways? Street artist and lecturer Chris Honig explains via The Conversation.
- Sundance Film Festival 2017: Alumna filmmaker Kitty Green on her new film Casting JonBenet
Alumna filmmaker Kitty Green's experimental documentary film Casting JonBenet was warmly received at its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival on Sunday, though her unusual approach to the sensi...
- Alumna filmmaker named recipient of Sundance Institute fellowship
Alumna filmmaker Amie Batalibasi has been named the recipient of the 2017 Sundance Institute Merata Mita Fellowship. Read more via IF.com.au.
- Alumnus filmmaker Bentley Dean receives Australia's first foreign language Oscar nomination
Film and television alumnus Bentley Dean's film Tanna has received Australia's very first Academy Awards nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. Read more via The Hollywood Reporter.
Research at the Victorian College of the Arts is open-ended, innovative and emergent, producing original creative work. It involves multi-disciplinary experimentation by individuals and research groups, and engages with new forms and critiques that advance our understanding of the arts, national and international cultures, and our place in the world.
- Art, Social and Spatial Practice
The Art, Social and Spatial Practice (ASSP) Cluster seeks to investigate the potential of both the material and social production of art as object, performance, spatial practice or relational experience.
- Moving Image Narrative
The Moving image Narrative (MIN) Cluster is a practice‐based research group, that investigates the power of moving image narratives in contemporary life.
- Matters of the Body
The Matters of the Body (MOB) Cluster engages with culture’s capacity to communicate material conditions of gender, sexuality, feminism, trans and queerness.
Creative Arts Therapies Research Unit
The Creative Arts Therapies Research Unit (CATRU) aims to support the further development of creative arts therapy disciplines in Melbourne and wider Australia through research and research training.
Centre for Ideas
The Centre for Ideas marks a radical departure from the conventional teaching models in arts education. It embraces the whole Faculty providing a range of perspectives on contemporary culture.
Research Office
The VCA & MCM Research Office is a professional unit within the Faculty that provides a range of services and support to research staff and graduate research students.
WOMINJEKA/Welcome to the traditional lands of the Kulin Nations, where we draw on the strength of more than 1000 generations of arts practice.
We respectfully acknowledge the people of the Boon Wurrung and the Woi Wurrung who have danced their dances, sung their songs and lived their culture on this land for tens of thousand of years.
The Victorian College of the Arts, within the Faculty of VCA and MCM at the University of Melbourne’s Southbank Campus, is situated on the land occupied by 1000 generations of Australia’s first people. The VCA is committed to providing a deep and transformative learning experience in pursuit of artistic excellence, innovation and an absorbing education. We welcome you to a community of artists of all sorts: contemporary artists and writers, choreographers, musicians, designers, performers, actors, filmmakers, dancers and many more, all committed to the production of new artistic work.
We celebrate a depth of study in Visual Arts, Film and Television, Animation, Screenwriting, Dance, Theatre, Music Theatre, Production and Design, and all those in between. We encourage our students to explore and experiment with other disciplines as they encounter them. We offer undergraduate, graduate and short-course programs, creating an atmosphere of critical confidence and creative risk-taking, as well as high expectations in the development of skill and facility. This fusion of immersive training and critical investigation provides our students with the capacity to present inventive collaborations and high individual achievement.
The VCA is located in the arts precinct at Southbank, at the heart of Melbourne's artistic life. This vibrant community of artists and arts professionals, students and staff is committed to pursuing the highest aspirations for contemporary cultural life. 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 the future challenges.
Professor Su Baker, Director
Victorian College of the Arts