It’s a timely reminder that we are so close  and time is off the essence for all 14,000 of the SAVE VCA community to get emailing to demand that hints of new VCA policy quickly turn into commitments.

Visit our last post for the email addresses you need and suggested email wording. Make no mistake – in two election year, a simple email from you has the power to SAVE VCA.

Last week was a significant breakthrough for the SAVE VCA campaign, however there is some urgent work we all need to do to turn the breakthrough into a win.

There is also some misunderstanding in regards to the University’s response to its own Review, particularly concerning the future of Music at VCA.

The quick update:

• For the first time, the State and Federal Labor Governments appear to be on the verge of a funding announcement for VCA. For more detail click here.
• The Dean of VCAM Sharman Pretty resigned on Thursday 22 July 2010. For detail click here.
• The University of Melbourne responded to its own VCAM Review. For more detail click here.
• All of the above attracted significant media analysis. For more detail click here.

The quick action list:

No new funding for VCA has been confirmed. We ask that you urgently email the Government (recipients list below) to encourage them to seal the deal on VCA’s financial future.

Email Recipient List:

• Simon Crean – Federal Minister for Education s.crean.mp@aph.gov.au
• Cath Bowtell – Candidate for the Federal Seat of Melbourne cath.bowtell@australianlabor.com.au
• John Brumby – Premier of Victoria premier@dpc.vic.gov.au
• Peter Batchelor – Victorian Minister for the Arts peter.batchelor@parliament.vic.gov.au
• Bronwyn Pike – Victorian Minister for Education bronwyn.pike@parliament.vic.gov.au

Make It Easy For Yourself:

• If you use Outlook or Entourage, click here to set up a new email with all addresses automatically.
• Download the above below text as an MS Word document so you can quickly personalise it before emailing.

Write to express your support of:

• New Federal funding for VCA of $6-8m p/a for an independent VCA. This is in recognition of VCA’s unique national importance as being the only tertiary College to teach every art form at an elite level, with an emphasis on cross-form collaboration. It also recognises VCA’s funding was severely cut in 2005 by the then Federal Government, thus threatening the College’s ability to contribute to Australia’s cultural landscape and arts economy.
• VCA’s independence being restored, either by returning to being an affiliate of the University of Melbourne or becoming a stand-alone cultural institution funded through the Federal Arts Ministry. VCA must retain a non-Melbourne Model music program.
• Recognition that if VCAM is to continue as a Faculty of the University the required new funds significantly increase to $18-20m p/a (refer pages 22-26 of the University of Melbourne’s response to its Review).
• An ongoing Victorian State contribution to VCA infrastructure and equipment to ensure the College remains nationally and internationally competitive.

In reference to the University’s Response to its VCAM Review, you are concerned:

• The Melbourne Model is still considered an option for VCAM despite strong staff, student and industry opposition.
• Music is being broken away from the rest of VCA in spite of the serious concerns expressed by staff and students.
• Only a Melbourne Model Music program will exist at VCAM.
• The forthcoming Curriculum Review is not being run independently of the University, and thus is likely to repeat the severe deficiencies of the first Review.

To add weight to your email, please personalise the above before sending it. For instance, if you’re a current student or staff member, include your concerns about your own VCAM experience (e.g. if you have lost subjects, teachers, facilities).

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The Possibility of New Funding

In separate statements, the Victorian Premier John Brumby, the Victorian Arts Minister Peter Batchelor & Minister for Education Brownyn Pike and Federal Education Minister Simon Crean all hinted that a new Federal funding arrangement for VCA was imminent.

CREAN (Media Release 22/7/10)

Following representations from Cath Bowtell, Labor Candidate for Melbourne, Mr Crean has agreed to consider how the Federal Government can constructively engage with the issues raised in the University’s response.

 “I know that Cath is a strong advocate of the VCA and has been working with key stakeholders, the State Government, and the community on this issue for some time and I look forward to hearing her advice on the best way the Federal Government can ensure that the important contribution of the VCA to the creative arts is maintained and strengthened” Mr Crean said.

BRUMBY (At the opening of the Melbourne International Film Festival 22/07/10)

I can tell you tonight that we are not resting on this issue. We are having constructive conversations with the Commonwealth on the future of the VCA – and I am determined to deliver a solution for a sustainable, vibrant and appropriately resourced VCA into the future.  I hope to have more to say on this in the near future.

BATCHELOR (Media Release 22/07/10)

Mr Batchelor said the Brumby Labor Government would continue work to find a long-term solution for the VCA, so that it continues to provide a high quality education to the state’s artists.

“We have been having constructive conversations with the Commonwealth, particularly with the new Education Minister Simon Crean and the Federal candidate for Melbourne Cath Bowtell about how to better support the VCA,” Mr Batchelor said.

Batchelor completed a site visit of VCA on Thursday 29/07/10 with Federal Seat of Melbourne Canidate Cath Bowtell, noting in a media release “If these [proposals] are to have a lasting impact, we need to be clear that they will directly benefit the students, the staff, the University and the Victorian community as a whole”. SAVE VCA agree that all new funds should be tied to VCA. Why fund a $18-19m p/a shortfall to keep VCA part of the University (paying the University’s exhorbidant rentals and admin costs), when you could spent $6-8m p/a and have VCA independent? Note these figures where publicly acknowledged by the University in their Response to their Review. Click here for the more info on the figures (scroll to commentary regarding pages 23-27 of the University Response).

PIKE (Media Release 22/07/10)

“We are acutely aware of the important contribution the VCA makes to arts education nationally and I’m pleased that the value of its teaching methods have been acknowledged by the University,” she said.

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Hints at policy are one thing – action is another. The Australian Greens and the Victorian Liberals already have firm VCA policies. Make sure you email the above Ministers to ask them to urgently make a firm commitment to VCA.Click here to email now to SAVE VCA.

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Dean’s Resignation

Sharman Pretty Defending Course Cuts on ABC Stateline 28-08-09

In an email to VCAM Staff on 22 July 2010, Acting Vice Chancellor John Dewar advised:

“As part of the new direction, the Dean, Professor Sharman Pretty will resign from the position. The University’s response has clarified that the future directions of the Faculty, and hence the role of Dean within that context, will be significantly different to that which Professor Pretty was appointed. As a result Professor Pretty has decided to step down, as such a different role is not one that she would be interested to pursue.”

Whilst it is undeniable the Dean’s tenure was no longer viable (the National Tertiary Education Union even calling for her resignation in May 2010), the ABC 774’s journalist Jon Faine pointed out in an interview with the Acting Vice Chancellor John Dewar that the Dean “has become the fall guy – I think she’s taken the heat that should be higher up the food chain.” Hear the full interview via Facebook.

This point of view is certainly reflected in the University’s response to its Review, with much of the economic rationalist language and seeming unawareness of the arts, once associated with Dean Pretty, remaining present.

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The University Response to its Review

As expected, the flawed Discussion Paper released in November 2009, produced a flawed Review process, resulting in a flawed Review Report in May 2010. The University Response to its own Review contains little good news for SAVE VCA members, but does provide further proof that the University of Melbourne is a problematic custodian for VCA.

Read the full University Response to its VCAM Review here.

Summary of Key VCAM Review University Response Points:

• Commitment to studio based training is affirmed however must be delivered in a “sustainable” manner.
• The merger remains with no plans to return VCA’s independence. Uni Melb still owns VCA’s assets.
• Melbourne Model postponed pending a new curriculum review that will be done this year to be actioned from 2011. This new Review will again not be independent, rather Uni Melb will run it. Music will remain an entirely Melbourne Model affair across both campuses.
• No immediate plan to return cut courses (Music Theatre, Puppetry, Film & TV Doco and Drama).
• VCAM will remain, but will be split internally into two sectors – Music (Melbourne Conservatorium which is combined UoM Music and VCA Music) and ‘the rest’ (VCA).  Each will have their own director, with the Conservatorium head being Gary McPherson (the current head of VCAM Music) and the head of VCA was TBA (the current head of VCAM Art). The two Directors will report to a Dean. On 27 July 2010 Acting Vice Chancellor John Dewar told staff that current Head of Art Su Baker would become the Director of VCA and that an international search for a new Dean will begin, with the aim of having the new appointee start in 2011. The caretaker Dean, Warren Beddington, has been taken from Vice Chancellor Glyn Davis’ core circle.
• The different offerings of UoM Music and VCA Music are still not acknowledged, instead they are presented as duplicates. It is unclear why Music is being separated out from the other art forms, thus putting at risk VCA’s unique formula of teaching all art forms, with an emphasis on cross-form collaboration (and the ability to use this unique formula to fight for better Federal funding).
• The University will continue to subsidise VCAM for an unnamed fixed term, however the required subsidy has now blown out from the original $5-6m to $18-20m per year due to the University’s rental and administration costs.
• Even though there is acknowledgement that VCA was financially stable prior to the 2005 Federal Funding cut, VCA is still painted as a significant strain on the University and economic rationalism speak abounds e.g. “[VCAM should] take all reasonable steps to reduce the level and duration of transitional funding required”. There is no acknowledgment of the financial burden placed upon VCA by the University in the form of admin and rental costs which were not factored at the time of merger (when Uni Melb scored $103m of VCA assets).

*NEW* For a page-by-page analysis of the University’s Response to its Review click here.

SAVE VCA believes the University has to date, not taken the opportunity to bring about real, positive change in its relationship with VCA and the wider arts community. The language used in the Review Response has an unfortunately familiar tone – with economic rationalism more prominent than ever. In an interview with ABC774’s Jon Faine, Acting Vice Chancellor John Dewar even tried to spin the damage done to VCA by the University as a “valuable exercise”.

Jon Faine: Do you commit to the intensive, studio-based learning that was the success model of the old VCAM?

John Dewar: John we make that clear in the report, that yes we do, but at the same time we accept the recommendations of the Switkowski Review that in reviewing curriculum we have to have a very firm eye on financial sustainability at the same time. We think we can do both, we think we can preserve studio teaching on the one hand while ensuring the long term financial sustainability of this delivery of curriculum. That’s the challenge that we’ve got, and there’s a lot of work to do between now and the end of the year to get there. There’s a lot of appetite amongst our colleagues on Southbank to get on with this and see it through successfully.

Jon Faine: Do you apologise on behalf of the University of Melbourne for the anxiety and the stress caused to the arts community through this entire wasted exercise?

John Dewar: John I think this has been a valuable exercise to get the future directions right.

Jon Faine: It’s been a disaster Acting Vice Chancellor!

John Dewar: Umm look….

Jon Faine: It’s damaged the brand of the University of Melbourne and your standing in the arts community that should be your friends, and you made them your enemies.

John Dewar: We will be ah working very hard to make them our friends again.

There has been no recognition for the distress caused to students and academic and professional staff during the last sixteen months.

It is also unclear why the University has so badly handled the merger with VCA, when it could have quite easily become the premier provider of elite arts education in the country and the Asia-Pacific region. It is also surprising that there has been no real turn around in attitude despite over a year of strong community concern about VCA’s future.

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Media Analysis of Recent Events

• The Age 23 July 2010
• ABC 774 Jon Faine 23 July 2010 (interviews Uni Melb Acting Vice Chancellor John Dewar and SAVE VCA’s Scott Dawkins).  STREAM ON FACEBOOK
• Crikey.com 23 July 2010 (NB small factual error in this report. FTV Documentary and Visual Effects were suspended, not Drama)
• Inside Film 23 July 2010
• ABC TV Victoria 23 July 2010 STREAM ON FACEBOOK or YOUTUBE
• Farrago (Uni Melb Student Paper) 23 July 2010
• ABC Arts Online 23 July 2010
• Campus Review (Tertiary Education Industry Press) 26 July 2010
• The Age 26 July 2010 (NB VCA Music and UOM Music remain merged)
• Farrago Online 26 July 2010
• Puppets in Melbourne 26 July 2010
• ArtsHub 27 July 2010
• The Australian 28 July 2010 (NB VCA Music and UOM Music remain merged)

“One thing is certain. The VCAM has a special place in the culture not only of this city, but of this country. Its success is paramount.” The Age Editorial 26 July 2010.

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We’re nearly there – but VCA needs you now more than ever.

After over a year of relentless campaigning, tonight SAVE VCA’s 13,879 members can smell hope.

The University of Melbourne has released its response to its own VCAM Review. Read it here and post your thoughts below or on Facebook so they can be included in the official SAVE VCA response. A mini summary of the response is included below. We expect most of you will have a cautious / mixed reading of the paper and look forward to reading your comments ASAP.

However in momentous news, today Dean Sharman Pretty has resigned (read email to staff below) and for the first time, a permanent solution for VCA is now in the air thanks to much welcome Government intervention.

At this evening’s Melbourne International Film Festival, the Victorian Premier John Brumby had this to say:

Before I finish, I want to say something about an institution that is dear to my heart.

Some of you may know that the University of Melbourne has this evening responded to the recommendations of the Switkowski Review of the Victorian College of the Arts which includes their support for the creation of two separate entities – the VCA and the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music* – each with their own directors and responsibilities for curriculum and budget.

The VCA plays a significant role in our arts industry and our Government is keen to ensure that a high level of studio-based training is maintained and enhanced in the future.

We welcome the university’s response as an important first step.  But I can tell you tonight that we are not resting on this issue. We are having constructive conversations with the Commonwealth on the future of the VCA – and I am determined to deliver a solution for a sustainable, vibrant and appropriately resourced VCA into the future.  I hope to have more to say on this in the near future.

The cheer from the audience was deafening.

[*note the reference the "Melbourne Conservatorium" is a new entity within VCAM which still combines VCA Music and UoM Music and is still soley Melbourne Model based. The University have not proposed a demerger, instead they are separating Music from the other art forms within VCAM. Read the full response for more info]

Federal Education Minister Simon Crean

We absolutely applaud the State Government’s decision to join the Victorian Greens and Victorian Liberals to fight for VCA and we wait with bated breath for the Federal Government (particularly new Federal Education Minister Simon Creen who holds the purse strings) to show the same determination to deliver a lasting funding solution before the Federal Election. Mr Crean has already hinted in a media release his wallet is out - lets shake the money out!  Email Simon Crean now and tell him how much VCA means to you and Australia’s arts Business and that is must have special, recurring funding delivered this year $6m p/a absolute minimum (s.crean.mp@aph.gov.au). Remember to cc Candidate for Melbourne Cath Bowtell (cath.bowtell@australianlabor.com.au)

More analysis of the University response will follow in the coming days, but for now happy reading and please share your feedback ASAP so everyones opinion can be accounted for.

Congratulations to all on this breakthrough– however we’re not there yet.Email Simon Crean and Cath Bowtell right now! Everyone’s voice counts in an election year!

MEDIA COVERAGE

• The Age 23 July 2010
• ABC 774 Jon Faine 23 July 2010 (interviews Uni Melb Acting Vice Chancellor John Dewar and SAVE VCA’s Scott Dawkins).  STREAM ON FACEBOOK or LISTEN VIA MP3 (10.3MB)
• Crikey.com 23 July 2010 (NB smal factual error in this report. FTV Documentary and Visual Effects were suspended, not Drama)
• Inside Film 23 July 2010
• ABC TV Victoria 23 July 2010 STREAM ON FACEBOOK or YOUTUBE
• Farrago (Uni Melb Student Paper) 23 July 2010
• Campus Review (Tertiary Education Industry Press) 26 July 2010
• The Age 26 July 2010

MEDIA RELEASES

• Peter Batchelor – Vic Arts Minister
• Simon Crean – Federal Education Minister
• National Tertiary Education Union

SUMMARY OF UNI MELB RESPONSE TO REVIEW

• Commitment to studio based training is affirmed.
• The merger remains with no plans to return VCA’s independence. Uni Melb still owns VCA’s assets.
• Melbourne Model postponed pending a new curriculum review that will be done this year to be actioned from 2011. This new Review will again not be independent, rather Uni Melb will run it. Music will remain an entirely Melbourne Model affair.
• No immediate plan to return cut courses (Music Theatre, Puppetry, Film & TV Doco and Drama).
• VCAM will remain, but will be split internally into two sectors – Music (Melbourne Conservatorium which is combined UoM Music and VCA Music) and ‘the rest’ (VCA).  Each will have their own director, with the Conservatorium head being Gary McPherson (the current head of VCAM Music) and the head of VCA is TBA. Staff and students will not have a say in these appointments. The two Directors will report to a Dean.
• The different offerings of UoM Music and VCA Music are still not acknowledged, instead they are presented as duplicates. It is unclear why Music is being separated out from the other art forms, thus putting at risk VCA’s unique formula of teaching all art forms, with an emphasis on cross-form collaboration (and the ability to use this unique formula to fight for better Federal funding). Music will continue to operate across two campuses.
• Even though there is acknowledgement VCA was financially stable prior to the 2005 Federal Funding cut, VCA is still painted as a significant strain on the University and economic rationalism speak abounds e.g. “[VCAM should] take all reasonable steps to reduce the level and duration of transitional funding required”. There is no acknowledgment of the financial burden placed upon VCA by the University in the form of admin and rental costs which were not factored at the time of merger (when Uni Melb scored $103m of VCA assets).

EMAIL TO STAFF REGARDING RESIGNATION OF SHARMAN PRETTY

From: Acting Vice-Chancellor <vc@unimelb.edu.au>

Date: 22 July 2010 18:52:11 AEST

To: All staff

Subject: VCAM announcement

Reply-To: vc@unimelb.edu.au

From the Vice Chancellor

22 July 2010

Dear colleagues,

Today the University released its response to the Switkowski Review of the Faculty of the VCA and Music, completed in May this year.

The University Council has approved the recommendations of a steering committee under my leadership to consider the Review, with input from the faculty itself and consultation with the VCA Integration Committee.

Principally, the University endorses the Review’s recommendation that VCAM continue as a single faculty, but now comprising two discrete parts to be known initially as the VCA and the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. Each part will be led by a Director, which will be a new position reporting to the Dean.

The response also endorses the Review’s recommendations on the future curriculum of the Faculty. These include suspending the proposed introduction of the Melbourne Model for the visual and performing arts disciplines based at the Southbank campus, pending a new process to consider the curriculum most appropriate to these disciplines.

This process will consider the faculty’s courses, teaching practices and the feasibility of offering an exclusively practice-based Associate Diploma and Graduate Diploma degree program. As recommended by the Switkowski Report, the review will be guided firmly by the principles that curriculum must be financially sustainable, that studio-practice remain central to tuition, and that talent-based entry be reaffirmed. The Provost or nominee will lead the review, with a brief to report back by 31 December 2010.

The full text of the University’s response, “The Future of the Visual and Performing Arts at the University of Melbourne”, may be viewed at http://www.unimelb.edu.au/vcam-discussion/

As part of the new direction, the Dean, Professor Sharman Pretty will resign from the position. The University’s response has clarified that the future directions of the Faculty, and hence the role of Dean within that context, will be significantly different to that which Professor Pretty was appointed. As a result Professor Pretty has decided to step down, as such a different role is not one that she would be interested to pursue.

Professor Pretty came to us after holding distinguished appointments as an educational leader in the arts both in Australia and New Zealand, which had followed a career in music as a performer, teacher and arts manager. She proved to be a highly intelligent, articulate and committed leader and she tackled a very challenging task with great energy and resilience, informed by a wide knowledge of the advancement of the arts internationally. The University is grateful for her many initiatives and achievements, including achieving major support to secure the future of the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development, and building partnerships with the Royal College of Music London and the Shanghai Conservatory through the recent Global Ensemble project at the Shanghai Expo, and locally through the relationship with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and other professional arts organisations. Her vision for the future of the Southbank campus as a performing arts precinct of international distinction, combining our educational activities with the work of Melbourne’s professional performing companies, is one we will be exploring very seriously.

The changes we have announced today are important ones. I hope they will serve to speed our progress towards achieving a better future for our visual and performing arts programs, one of which we can all be proud.

Professor John Dewar

Acting Vice Chancellor

Melbourne Times 14 July 2010

Melbourne Weekly journalist Bianca Hall has revealed senior Music staff fear the once vibrant VCA Music and UoM Music schools, now combined into VCAM Music, are becoming a “cultural morgue” as a result of the failed merger and severe financial cut-backs. VCAM Music has bore the brunt of the merger, being the only Melbourne Model stream at VCAM and having two completely different faculties being sticky-taped together. Read the article here:

• Web Version (you have to register for free with Melbourne Weekly first)
• OR PDF Version

The story was republished in the Melbourne Times on 14/07/10.

The concerns of music staff are in line with numerous emails and calls SAVE VCA have received over the past month, pointing to a very obvious deterioration of VCAM Music including:

• Pre merger VCA and UoM Music each had their own orchestras, with UoM Music at times having two orchestras of its own. In 2010 there is now a single orchestra at VCAM, effectively halving the opportunities for students.
• In 2010 not only has the opportunity to play in, write for or conduct the orchestra been halved, but also the amount of public performances has been drastically cut. In 2009 Southbank alone staged six public performances, whereas in 2010 the entire VCAM is only performing four. Compounding the problem is 2010 second-semester VCAM performances are for chamber orchestra. The smaller orchestral forces of the chamber orchestra mean there a fewer positions available for students to participate.
• The opportunities for composers to have their compositions properly rehearsed and performed has been reduced. In 2009, VCA composers had 15 hours of rehearsal with an orchestra before their piece was performed in public and recorded as part of ‘Sound Out’. In 2010, composers get a one-hour “read through” of their piece with no public performance.
• Cross-media opportunities – the hallmark of a VCA Music education – are not being safeguarded and are likely to be cut.
• The VCAM Music Melbourne Model is failing students who want a career as professional musicians, and is not even competitive locally let alone internationally.
• The rate of staff cuts has been so severe, that VCAM is now at the point it cannot cope with even one technical support staff being away ill. The loss of music industry heavyweights as a result of staff cutbacks is likely to contribute to an isolation of VCAM Music from the professional music industry.

Former Head of VCA Music Tony Gould spoke out in yesterday’s The Age Letters to the Editor, saying:

Value of the arts

GABRIELLA Coslovich’s excellent article (The Age, 10/7) is a reminder of the ignorance of politicians in relation to the arts. How many times do artists such as Oscar-winning animator Adam Elliot and the likes of Geoffrey Rush have to argue the case for supporting the existence and independence of the Victorian College of the Arts? Sadly, arguing an issue with people who have no idea what you are talking about – arts ministers included – apart from how much it will cost, is futile.

This shameful state is not helped by a university (and the faculty of music within) that never wanted the VCA – ”an arrangement made in hell”, one senior staff member suggested to me. Universities are wonderful places (well, not all of them) but for many reasons the creative arts do not fit at Melbourne. The review by Ziggy Switkowski (I don’t remember coming across that name in the world of the arts) might force the issue into the area of common sense. It might pay respect to artists who know the value of both the arts and arts training to society and culture. But I do not believe in miracles.

As pointed out by Mr Gould, we still wait for Victorian Premier John Brumby, new Federal Education Minister Simon Crean or Federal Arts Minister Peter Garrett to show the remotest interest in VCA, trailing behind the Victorian Liberals and the Australian Greens who already have detailed VCA policy.

Are you a music student or staff member? You can post your comments below (you can post anonymously).

Adam Elliot (VCA Grad) & Adam Bandt (Fed Melb Candidate) CRD THE AGE PAT SCALA

The Age have today revealed that The Australian Greens have become the first political party to put forward a joint state and federal solution for VCA. And according to the five-time AFI recipient and Oscar winner (and VCA Grad!) Adam Elliot, help can’t come fast enough.

• Read The Age story here
• Read The Greens policy announcement here
• Read more about The Greens bid to win the seat of Melbourne

The Victorian Greens and Victorian Liberals have been calling for action on VCA for over a year. In fact, it was way back in September 2009 the Victorians Liberals announced they would deliver $6m of fresh annual funding for VCA if they win this year’s state election. The welcome addition of VCA’s first Federal friends in the Australian Greens (thanks to Melbourne electorate candidate Adam Bandt), means this year your vote in the State and Federal elections will directly impact VCA.

Lights, Camera, Demand Action – enrol to vote now (or update your enrollment with your correct address).

Remember you must enroll BEFORE the Federal election is called for your vote to count in this year’s election.

Lets make 2010 the year we SAVE VCA!

For the Victorian State election (27/11/10) every vote will count (as there are multiple marginal electorates), so ask your local member what their policy is on VCA. You can find your local Victorian State member by clicking here.

For the Federal election (date TBA) again every vote will count, but if you live in the Melbourne electorate (map below), it is extremely important that you check to make sure you are enrolled correctly (as this is a marginal seat). To find out your Federal electorate  click here and ask them what their VCA policy is.

In a two election year, we have a real chance to SAVE VCA. But you have to vote.

Today residents in Melbourne’s north, from Richmond to Reservoir opened their Melbourne Times to read about VCA’s continuing struggle under a failed merger with the University of Melbourne, compounded by a deafening, year-long silence from the Federal and State Labor Governments.

Read the Melbourne Times story here:

• PDF Version (5.8MB)
• Web Version (requires a free Fairfax registration)

It’s an important reminder that in an two election year, VCA has a real chance to secure it’s future – perhaps the best chance it has ever had. Why?

On a state level, the Victorian Liberals have already put $6m in recurring annual funding on the table if they win Government, coupled with the promise of demerger from the University if the spirit of the 2007 agreement continues to be ignored. The Victorian Greens have been just as fiercely supportive of VCA, and are likely to back any plan to get VCA back in shape regardless of who wins Government. More detail on the Vic Libs and Vic Greens efforts for VCA below.

On a Federal level, the electorate of Melbourne is up for grabs after news sitting Labor MP Lindsay Tanner wont recontest the seat. And Melbourne is an electorate that would have the highest concentration of artists and arts businesses in Victoria – perhaps even Australia. With the Green’s “Make History Melbourne” campaign to win the seat already enjoying incredible momentum, VCA might finally get some Federal attention.

What can you do to help? Vote. And if you’re not registered to vote OR you haven’t updated your address (especially for all the VCA students that have come from interstate!), do it now at the Australian Electoral Commission website (because once the Federal election is announced, only people registered on the day of the announcement can vote).

Lets make 2010 the year we SAVE VCA!

OTHER RECENT NEWS:

Karen Hill has departed VCA after being the one to implement the “responsible division management” University of Melbourne changes to VCA, which among other things, saw VCA lose 8% of its staff in 2009 alone. In her farewell email, Ms Hill gave herself and Dean Sharman Pretty a glowing report card. Ummmm? Post your thoughts below.

RELATED POSTS:

28/05/10 VCA Smackdown: Liberal vs Labor

20/05/10 Greens and Libs Slam Brumby Over VCA

11/04/10 Fed Labor An Arts Disappointment?

FURTHER READING:

07/07/10 Ted Baillieu on VCA in Numurkah Leader

26/06/10 Ted Baillieu on VCA in the Geelong Advertiser

04/06/10 “St Kilda Rd Arts College Future Unclear” Port Phillip Leader

19/05/2010 “Government Refused To Provide Lifeline To VCA” (Vic Greens)

18/05/2010 “Brumby Cuts VCA Adrift” (Vic Liberals)

28/05/2010 “Parliament’s Upper House Backs More Funding For VCA” (Vic Liberals)

23/02/10 Vic Greens Query Review Committee Makeup in Parliament

24/11/2009 “Arrogant Kosky Betrays VCA Petitioners” (Vic Liberals)

12/11/09 Vic Greens Query Uni Melb Rental Charges to VCA

12/09/2009 “An Open Letter From Ted Baillieu To The Students and Staff Of The Victorian College of the Arts” (full Vic Liberal VCA policy detail)

21/08/2009 “Its Not Too Late To Save The VCA” (Vic Greens)

21/08/09 Vic Greens (Sue Pennicuik) at SAVE VCA Rally

21/08/09 Vic Liberals (Heidi Victoria) at SAVE VCA Rally

28/07/09 Vic Libs Ask Govt To Act

04/06/09 Vic Libs Ask Govt To Act On VCA Course Cuts

29/05/2009 “VCA Suffering From Broken Promises?” (Vic Greens)

It’s going to cost dollars and its going to cost them nationally and locally. Melbourne Times journalist Bianca Hall gives a detailed account of how Australia’s only multidisciplinary elite tertiary arts College VCA, is being left to the hands of a mercenary Melbourne University, whilst the Federal & State Labor Governments are yet to reveal any action plan to stem the bleeding.

Read the story here (you have to register for free first with Fairfax)

OR read the story here in PDF (note the file is large – 7.3MB)

Send your support for VCA to The Melbourne Weekly Letters to the Editor (email yoursay@fairfax.com.au including your full name, address, phone number and keep it under 200 words).

Email our new Prime Minister Julia Gillard (Julia.Gillard.MP@aph.gov.au) and demand VCA become an arts ministry funded cultural institution like NIDA.

Email our Victorian Arts Minister Peter Batchelor (peter.batchelor@parliament.vic.gov.au) and ask him to publicly pressure the Federal Govt for action and for Vic State Labor to match the Victorian Liberal offer of $6m p/a in new state funding for VCA.

It’s a two election year – you have the power to pressure the State and Federal Governments to act.

And if you live in the Federal Electorate of Melbourne your vote is really going to count.

MAKE 2010 THE YEAR WE SAVE VCA!

Further reading:

• Noel Turnbull’s report on the SAVE VCA trip to Canberra. Noel is the former Chair of the VCA Advisory Board (who resigned in protest last year along with Lynne Landy). Noel is also the former President of the Melbourne International Arts Festival.

Register your spot on the bus here.

If you currently live in Canberra (and don’t need transport/accommodation), email the NTEU to let them know you’re coming. We’d love to see you!

The spirit of the Canberra trip is less protest, more talkfest – a chance for students, staff and graduates to tell pollies direct what’s going wrong at VCA, how that will affect the arts economy and why we need their help to SAVE VCA!

Considering the Sydney Morning Herald reported yesterday NIDA has been supplied another $4m of Federal funding (and they want more!), surely VCA’s modest funding requirements can be addressed. So get your cheque book ready Julia & Peter!

“Federal Ministers Julia Gillard and Peter Garrett can solve the crisis in the VCAM by committing to fund the College at a similar rate to other elite arts training institutes,” said Matthew McGowan, Secretary of the National Tertiary Education Union Victorian Division.

“The training that goes on today is the best in Australia, but staff are increasingly struggling under continuing cutbacks. Should the calibre of the VCA’s contribution to the arts industry be allowed to decline, there is a serious risk to Australia’s creative economy,” Mr McGowan said.

“It is time for the finger-pointing between State and Federal Governments to end, and for Julia Gillard, Peter Garrett and Victorian Arts Minister Peter Batchelor to take ownership of this funding crisis to stop ongoing damage to the Faculty,” he said.

UPDATE POST CANBERRA TRIP:

• Noel Turnbull’s report on the SAVE VCA trip to Canberra. Noel is the former Chair of the VCA Advisory Board (who resigned in protest last year along with Lynne Landy). Noel is also the former President of the Melbourne International Arts Festival.

OTHER RECENT NEWS:

• The Age reports a skills shortage in the Victorian Film & TV sector (sure to get worse unless VCA Film & TV’s underfunding and poor Uni Melb management isnt addressed!).
• Inside Film express the Film’s industry’s concern over University Management of VCA
• NTEU provide new forum for VCAM staff to submit anonymous feedback

SAVE VCA Week Rally - Credit Alexandra Palmer Bull

The Age’s Senior Arts Writer Gabriella Coslovich tells it like it is.

Enough buck passing. Enough blaming the Howard Government. Enough faux “consulting”. Gillard (Fed Education), Garrett (Fed Arts), Batchelor (Vic Arts), Glyn Davis (Uni Melb) – SAVE VCA now for the students, the staff and for Australia’s arts economy.

Read The Age story here in full.

Post your comments below or on Facebook.

The Vic Liberals have been consistent with their promise of a guaranteed extra $6m p/a for VCA in addition to the threat of demerger. Tangible solutions backed by specific action that is not waiting for what the Federal Govt may or may not do. This action has been supported by the Vic Greens.

The current Premier John Brumby has favoured pointing to the Feds, but his reply to Mr Burnside hints at a new willingness to act as a mediator.

SAVE VCA has consistently maintained that VCAM is a Federal AND State responsibility – after all it was the Victorian Government that merged VCA and Uni Melb in 2007, and created VCAM in 2009. That responsibility is not only as a caretaker and as a watchdog, but must be financial.

Still zip coming from Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard or Federal Arts Minister Peter Garrett (who also face the polls this year).

Read the Melbourne Mag’s full article here (10MB PDF).

Will VCA be a factor in how you vote in November’s Victorian state election? Post below or on Facebook.

And email your feedback to Baillieu and Brumby.