Comments on: THE AGE: Call for VCA To Become the “Australian University of the Arts”

By: Ron Dent

Ron Dent — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 03:15:41 +0000

What is the next stage of (strategy for) this fight? Suggest the ‘Save VCA’ group should now go beyond the UM VCA Review to a much wider but targeted public relations campaign. Don’t wait on what very might well be a stacked result from UM. Maintain the rage and take the fight to the battleground/s of YOUR choosing. Ron Dent

By: Ron Dent

Ron Dent — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 03:12:43 +0000

An independent, federally-funded Australian College of the Arts, with a mission statement converted from that of the AIS and as read by Geoffrey Rush, is an excellent idea. But should such a reality be foisted on an under-deserving Melbourne – at least as is being represented by its GO8 university of the same name? Methinks relocation in Adelaide – the original heartbeat of the Australian arts and ‘Athens of the South’ – would be a much more welcoming home base. Watch out for what you wish for UM. Congratulations to everyone who bothered to speak up on this potential outrage and full marks to all the people behind this excellent website. Ron Dent

By: Russell Yardley

Russell Yardley — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:43:06 +0000

As a member of the Film & Television Course Advisory Committee and contributor to that committee’s submission I would like to endorse the call for the VCA to Become the Australian Collage of the Arts” and congratulate the authors of this excellent, sensible and most comprehensive submission. The potential contribution of the arts to the creative economy is substantial and warrants the financial contributions required for a distinctive institution.

By: BRY

BRY — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 22:09:36 +0000

So, the public and stakeholders in the VCA have voted on Glyn Davis’ management and his ‘Melbourne Model’ policies, and the overwhelming opinion is that he is a disaster.
Watching how Ziggy and his largely unelected panel attempt to ignore these submissions will be most entertaining. Perhaps Glyn and Sharman hope that if the review takes long enough then there is still time to continue quietly white-anting staff and course offerings. Not hard for managers to have ‘a little chat’ with individual staff about their future, tell them how they have performed badly on key Melbourne Model indicators, and that they should be looking elsewhere for employment. That is how they do it on the main campus at Melbourne University.
If only the main campus could have a public review of the Melbourne Model disaster like this one for the VCA.