Alumna Samara Hersch (Master of Theatre Practice, 2010) is the 2015 Female Director in Residence at the Malthouse Theatre. Samara joins other VCA alumni who have been appointed into the role since 2011 including: Artistic Director of St Martin's Youth Theatre, Clare Watson (Graduate Diploma in Performing Arts - Directing, 2002) and Belvoir St Theatre's Resident Directors Adena Jacobs (Master of Theatre Practice, 2008) and Anne-Louise Sarks (Bachelor of Dramatic Art, 2007). The position prov...

In one of the most significant acts of arts philanthropy to an Australian university, property developer and passionate art collector, Michael Buxton, has donated his private contemporary Australian art collection to the University of Melbourne. The Michael Buxton Collection features more than 300 works by 53 of the country’s most significant Australian contemporary artists, including Howard Arkley, Ricky Swallow, Tracey Moffat, Emily Floyd, Patricia Piccinini and Bill Henson. The Col...

Playwright Mari Lourey (Master of Writing for Performance, 2013) has received the $20,000 Rodney Seaborn Playwright's Award 2014 for her new work Dirt Cloud. Ms Lourey said, "This award will enable a draft of this play to be finished and workshopped with a director, actors and designers to explore how this complex work will become a three dimensional theatrical work with a poetic vision for the stage. It will provide an opportunity to bring some of the best of this country's artists together...

By Professor Su Baker, Director of the Victorian College of the Arts The recent passing of Gough Whitlam provided many with an opportunity to reflect nostalgically on the education funding changes his Government initiated in 1973. The Whitlam Government shifted the responsibility for funding higher education from the States to the Federal Government, and fully funded the cost. For some of us, this model represented the entire spectrum of our education, from undergraduate to PhD. But, differ...

Alumna Alies Sluiter (Postgraduate Diploma in Music Performance, 2003) has been made the Australian Cultural John Monash Scholar 2015. The $60,000 per year award offers Ms Sluiter the opportunity to travel to the USA to study a Master of Fine Arts (Film) from Columbia University. Since graduating from VCA Ms Sluiter has worked as a composer for feature films, documentaries, television, music theatre, theatre and dance productions.More information about the Sir John Monash Foundation Awards.

The perpetual fellowship, named in honour of Darvell Hutchinson AM who this year retired after 50 years’ leadership of the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust, was established with a $1 million grant from the Trust. The first-of-its-kind Fellowship will be awarded annually, and enables a Victorian Indigenous artist to undertake a $45,000 one-year residency at the University of Melbourne to complete a project of their choice. Tiriki Onus is a Yorta Yorta man, the son of celebrated artist and ...

The University of Melbourne has received $32.2 million to advance research projects ranging from climate change and extreme weather, to multiculturalism and the Australian legal system and musical practice in funding results announced today. Funding received by the University comprised $22.4 million for 57 Discovery Projects, $7.1 million for 20 Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards and $2.7 million in the Linkage, Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities scheme. 

 Three projects at the...

Joshua Robson (Bachelor of Music Theatre, 2011) has received the 2014 Rob Guest Endowment Award at a Gala Concert in Sydney. Joshua performed 'Soliloquy' from Carousel, and 'Let Me Drown' from The Wild Party at the concert..  The $20,000 award is intended to help an artist in the musical theatre genre fund the tuition and experience needed to help them become a leading artist in their field. Joshua is currently performing in Les Miserables in Melbourne.

Watch the video of the performance Louise Bennet talks to one of Australia’s most celebrated composers who has just marked his 70th birthday with the debut of his latest composition, ANZAC, at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. Barry Conyngham had a late start for a composer, barely writing a note before his 20s. “I was a jazz musician during my first couple of years studying law at university until I heard all of Bartók’s six string quartets played by the worl...

A $1 million grant from the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust has been announced to establish a far-reaching new Indigenous arts residency program in perpetuity at the University of Melbourne – the Hutchinson Indigenous Residency (HIR). Created to enable a Victorian Aboriginal artist to undertake a significant project of their choice every year, the residency will build an alumni of Victorian Indigenous artists who have been provided with a unique opportunity to explore ideas, enhance skill...

Celebrated string musicians from the LA Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, Chicago Symphony and Cavani String Quartet will convene this week for a series of public performances and masterclasses. The festival, at the University of Melbourne’s Melbourne Conservatorium of Music (MCM), is part of the 2014 Mimir Chamber Music Festival (1-7 September). Mimir is a leading classical music event founded in America in 1998 by Dr Curt Thompson, who was appointed as Head of Strings at the Melbourne...

The winner of the 2014 Windsor Art Prize is Master of Fine Arts (Visual Art) student Yandell Walton. Yandell was awarded the prize on Friday night for her work Presence by a panel of judges that included Jason Smith, Director of Heide Museum of Modern Art, visual artist Julia DeVille and Jan Murray, Head of the VCA School of Art. The award is part of the Marvel Exhibition at the Hotel Windsor, Melbourne. The exhibition includes works from a number of VCA visual art students installed t...

Cinematographer Adam Arkapaw (Bachelor of Film and Television, 2006) has won his second Emmy for his work on one of last year's biggest television shows, HBO series True Detective. Arkapaw was awarded an Emmy for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series in Los Angeles. He received his first Emmy in 2013 for his work on another HBO series Top of the Lake.

Shark Island Institute has launched a new award for documentary graduates of the Victorian College of the Arts. The prize of $5,000 will be awarded to an outstanding documentary film project with a strong potential for social impact through outreach and education. The prize also includes mentorship with executives of Shark Island Productions. Students in the second year of the Master of Film and Television (Documentary) program are eligible to apply.

Alumnus Aaron Choulai (VCA, Bachelor of Music, 2003) has been awarded the 2014 Freedman Jazz Fellowship. Pianist and producer, Choulai, performed in the final with drummer Joe Talia at Sydney Opera House. Other finalists included alumni Gian Slater and Shannon Barnett.Based in Japan, Choulai will use the prize money to build a recording studio and document his work more routinely.Read more in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Choreographer Stephanie Lake (Bachelor of Dance, 1999) has won a Helpmann Award for Best Choreography in a Dance or Physical Theatre Work for the work A Small Prometheus. Read more about the Helpmann Awards in the Sydney Morning Herald.  

For the first time in Victoria, the renowned Tjanpi Desert Weavers will be holding a series of three masterclasses for Fine Arts students at the University of Melbourne. The Weavers will work with up to 50 undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD students from the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) and the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music (MCM). Building on the traditions of using natural fibres to create objects for medicinal, ceremonial and daily use, the Tjanpi – or ‘dry grass&r...

Director Eddy Bell (Bachelor of Film and Television, 2013) and Associate producer Khoby Rowe won Best Australian Short Film at the Melbourne International Film Festival, with Eddy's graduating short film Grey Bull.  The jury noted that 'Whilst the performances are all convincing, it is writer / director Eddy Bell who masterfully conveys a sense of patriotism, family and sacrifice ... without falling into the trap of creating a contrived and predictable piece.'The Melbourne International...

The finalists for the Freedman Jazz Fellowship have been announced with three VCA Alumni nominated. Shannon Barnett, Aaron Choulai, and staff member Gian Slater are three of the four finalists. Won last year by VCA graduate and staff member Chris Hale, other past VCA recipients include Andrea Keller, Julien Wilson and Marc Hannaford. The Music Trust was founded in October 2013 with the mission: “Through informed action and advocacy, The Music Trust advances music and musical life in A...