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.  

ART150: Celebrating 150 years of art

Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development

For over 15 years, the Wilin Centre has connected Indigenous visual, design and performing artists with a pathway to their future in the arts.

Situated at the heart of Melbourne's Arts Precinct, the Wilin Centre fosters innovation in the research, development, advocacy and presentation of Indigenous arts and cultural practice.

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Precinct

Precinct brings you the best of music, arts, stage and screen stories at the University of Melbourne. It highlights the work of researchers, artists, performers and production specialists, giving you an exclusive insight into the workings of a world-renowned arts institution.

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Still from Nest (2016) directed by Rex Kane Hart.

WOMINJEKA/Welcome to the traditional lands of the Kulin Nations, where we draw on the strength of more than a thousand 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 thousands of years.

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.

Royal Children's Hospital, image by Sav Schulman, 2011

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.

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Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Culture

Situated at the heart of Melbourne's arts precinct, the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development fosters innovation in the research, development, advocacy and presentation of Indigenous cultural expressions.

Visit the Wilin Centre

Traditional Indigenous grinding stone and kangaroo sinew. Photo: Jorge de Araujo, 2016.
Sanja Pahoki, Space People, 2012

Research Office

The Fine Arts and Music Research Office is a professional unit within the Faculty that provides a range of services and support to research staff and graduate research students.

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Graduate research

The Victorian College of the Arts offers a range of graduate research programs across a breadth of disciplines. Our core research degrees, the Master of Fine Arts and Doctor of Philosophy, give students the opportunity to pursue independent creative arts research in both traditional and practice-led environments.

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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 Fine Arts and Music 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.

Professor Jon Cattapan. Photo: Giulia McGauran, 2017.

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 Jon Cattapan, Director
Victorian College of the Arts

Our history, staff and facilities