Victorian College of the Arts Bill - 2nd Reading Speech

[EXTRACT FROM THE PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES]

VICTORIAN COLLEGE OF THE ARTS

BILL

Explanatory Second Reading Speech
by

The Hon. NORMAN LACY, M.P.

MINISTER FOR THE ARTS

in the Legislative Assembly on
19 March 1981

39217/81

Victorian College of the Arts Bill

Mr LACY (Minister for the Arts)—
I move:

That this Bill be read a second time.

Its purpose is the reconstitution of the
Victorian College of the Arts so that
it is better able to provide for the
preparation of young people to enter
upon careers as professional artists. It
also represents a most significant
development for the Victorian Arts
Centre, a dimension to which I shall
return later.

The Victorian College of the Arts
was incorporated by order of the Gov-
ernor in Council in 1972 and affiliated
as a college of advanced education with
the Victoria Institute of Colleges in
1973. The National Gallery Art School
became the foundation school of the
college. The school retains strong links
with the National Gallery of Victoria
and continues to devote itself exclu-
sively to the education of professional
fine artists.

The School of Music enrolled its first
students in 1974. Again the purpose
is to prepare students for professional
performing careers and a range of
degree, diploma and post-graduate
courses are available to instrumental
players, singers, conductors and other
specialists. A course specifically for
opera performers is included. The
School of Drama has operated since
1976 and a School of Dance since 1978.
Also in 1978, the Victorian College of
the Arts Technical School was estab-
lished by the Victorian Education
Department, in close association with
the tertiary college, expressly to enable
young musicians and dancers to develop

advanced skills in those arts while not
being denied a full secondary education.
In 1972 when the Government first
announced the creation of the Victorian
College of the Arts it referred to its
intention that along with education in
art, music, drama and dance there
should also be a similar provision for
training in film and television. This in-
tention stands and its implementation
is currently under consideration. The
policy of the college is to enrol in all
its courses only those students who
demonstrate the talent and dedication
essential for courses as practising
artists and performers. Similarly mem-
bers of the academic staff including the
director and the dean of each school
are themselves accomplished practising
artists.

There is a strong emphasis on public
participation and on extending arts
activities into the community. This
serves the need for performers to learn
to communicate with audiences but also
provides a valuable artistic service to
the community. There are, for ex-
ample, Victorians in country areas for
whom the college has provided their
first experience of a live orchestral
concert. As another example, com-
munity theatre companies in the west-
ern suburbs of Melbourne and in
Albury-Wodonga, which now operate
independently with support from the
Ministry of the Arts, began originally as
College of the Arts initiatives.

In 1980, a total of 462 tertiary stu-
dents were enrolled; 116 in art, 213 in
music, 86 in drama and 47 in dance.
Since 1973 there have been 174 gradu-
ates in fine arts, 83 in music and 49

in dramatic arts. The first graduates
in dance will complete their studies in
1981.

As a result of the repeal of the Vic-
torian Institute of Colleges Act 1955
it is necessary that those college coun-
cils constituted by Order in Council
made under that Act be reconstituted.
While provision has been made in the
Post-Secondary Education (Amendment)
Act 1980, for that purpose, after care-
ful consideration the Government has
decided that the educational and artis-
tic functions of the Victorian College
of the Arts would be much better
served if the college were reconstituted
under a separate statute. The reasons
for this decision derive from the quite
distinctive demands and circumstances
of preparing young artists for profes-
sional practice.

The basic concept upon which the
college is built is that young artists
intending to enter careers as prac-
titioners in their various fields are best
assisted to achieve their ambitions in
a milieu of continuous artistic activity
and endeavour of a fully professional
nature. To the extent that artistic
education is separated from normal
professional practice, it is so much the
less effective. Persons preparing for
careers as practising artists are much
better trained if they are regarded and
assisted as aspiring artists rather than
students in the conventional sense.
Other important elements are, firstly
that intensive training must begin
around age eleven in music and dance,
especially the latter, and, secondly, that
carefully designed programmes are
necessary after graduation to facilitate
transition to professional practice.

These considerations alone lead to the
conclusion that the Victorian College
of the Arts as an institution devoted to
assisting young artists enter upon
careers in the arts is substantially dif-
ferent from other educational institu-
tions. The education activities in which
it must engage extend well beyond post-
secondary education and to achieve its
educational purposes, it must also be
a centre of artistic activity. While this
Bill has been framed to enable the

college to take up and discharge its full
charter, the college will, nonetheless,
continue as a college of advanced edu-
cation in respect of its degree and
diploma courses within its wider role
and, therefore, will continue to have
the same relationship with the Victorian
Post-Secondary Education Commission
and the Tertiary Education Commission
in Canberra as it now has in connec-
tion with the approval and funding of
courses and related matters.

I referred to a second dimension in
my opening remarks. In addressing it,
I should like to remind honourable
members that in my second-reading
speech on the Victorian Arts Centre
Bill in 1979, I drew attention to the fact
that the Arts Centre, the National Gal-
lery and the college occupy adjacent
sites. I said then that these circum-
stances afforded an unparalleled oppor-
tunity and challenge to present total
programmes in the arts which should
encourage creative exchanges between
the art forms, give inspiration to stu-
dents of the arts and provide for the
public an experience which few places
in the world can match. The Bill repre-
sents a major step towards giving tan-
gible effect to the notion I was fore-
shadowing at the time, that is, the
establishment of a complex which may
fairly be described and regarded as the
greater Victorian Arts Centre.

The greater Arts Centre concept is
central to the Government's decision to
reconstitute the college by separate
statute as well as to the development
of the arts in general. It represents a
simple, readily achievable and highly
effective means of creating a substan-
tial milieu of continuous professional
activity of the highest standards. It also
has ramifications which extend far be-
yond the college and its partner institu-
tions. Its implementation will shape
and invigorate the arts in many ways
and lead to a dynamic cultural and
social facility without peer in Australia.
Effecting the concept turns on legis-
lative measures to link the Arts Centre,
responsible for the presentation of the
performing arts, the National Gallery
which is responsible for the visual arts,
and the college which prepares young
artists for professional careers in the

fine and performing arts. The Arts
Centre and the National Gallery each
are already constituted under their own
Acts and this new measure establishes
by statute the third and final partner.

Within the greater Arts Centre struc-
ture, each of the members will be auto-
nomous in its own sphere to ensure
preservation of the advantages of
specialization, expertise and dedicated
endeavour. At the same time, each will
exercise its responsibilities within the
over-arching framework created by the
close inter-relationships of the various
aspects of the arts for which each has
a special responsibility, cross member-
ship on their governing bodies, and the
commonality of their interests in the
arts.

In the light of my earlier remarks
about the education of artists, the bene-
fits which will accrue to the college are
self-evident. The college's students will
be and feel themselves to be participants
in the much wider artistic environment
of the greater Arts Centre. Through co-
operative arrangements they will have
continuing exposure to and artistic con-
tact with artists and their works in the
Arts Centre facilities. The Arts Centre
will be continuously alive with artistic
activity because of the presence of the
college's students.

The buildings will be transformed into
vibrant places and by that be so much
more than venues for scheduled per-
formances.

One particularly exciting outcome
will be the much enhanced level of inter-
action between the various arts which
will follow and will afford opportunities
for the development of artistic insights
and fresh forms and modes of
expression.

Substantial benefits will also accrue
due to consultation in areas such as co-
ordinated planning and design of capital
works, expertise and economies of scale
in the provision of artistic support
facilities, in the maintenance and
security of the fabric of the properties,
in the purchase of supplies, in joint ad-
ministrative services and in shared use
of facilities and joint artistic ventures.
These benefits extend beyond the
artistic and financial. The three partners
occupy a continuous complex extending

in its entirety opposite the gardens
along St Kilda Road from the main
southern entrance to the city at Princes
Bridge to Grant Street. The aesthetic
planning and social importance of the
location is very considerable and the
potential and capacity for realizing a
visually graceful and culturally lively
city entrance are profound.

Before turning to the provisions of
the Bill itself, there is one other point I
wish to make. Prior to submitting the \
proposal to reconstitute the college by I
separate statute to the cabinet, I looked I
carefully at various models for edu-
cating artists as well as considering ad-
vice from within the State and the (/
experience of the college since it was
established in 1973 and that of the
former National Gallery Art School,
now the college's School of Art, over
about 100 years. More particularly, I
studied institutions in which the educa-
tion of artists takes place in the wider
context of arts centres and to ensure
that I had a direct and full appreciation
of the proposed measure, I visited the
Lincoln Centre, of which the justly
celebrated Juilliard School is an element, /
in New York City. ~J

There is no doubt that the Lincoln
Centre and the Juilliard School, like the
Barbican Centre and the Guildhall
schools in London, stand in the very
forefront of the arts and artistic educa-
tion in the world. Those two
institutions represent the objectives to
which the Victorian Government aspires
and which I am confident will be
attained. Victoria's own greater Arts
Centre will number amongst the finest
centres of arts and artistic education in
the world and will have profound in-
fluence for the good on the quality of
life throughout and beyond this State.

The Bill establishes the college as an
autonomous education institution within
the general operational framework of
the Victorian Post-Secondary Education
Commission. By way of a general over-
view, it provides for a council, which
will be able to be widely representative
of interests in the arts to govern and
manage the college and for a board of
studies to advise the council on the
college's educational work. The council
is empowered to exercise its responsi-

Mr Lacy

bilities and to make statutes and regu-
lations in the same way as all other
tertiary educational institutions estab-
lished by separate Acts and to confer
academic awards. The Government has
been particularly careful to maintain
the college's autonomy to ensure that
the integrity of its programmes and
awards is unquestionable. Appropriate
transition provisions have been included
to protect the interests of staff and to
maintain continuity.

I now turn to various provisions in
some detail. Clause 3 establishes the
Victorian College of the Arts as a body
politic and corporate and provides that
the council shall be the governing
authority of the college. Clause 4 makes
provision for a common seal of the
college and for such to receive appro-
priate recognition.

The objects of the college are set out
in clause 5. It will be seen that the
college will work solely in the field of
the arts, is to consult and collaborate
with the trustees of the Victorian Arts
Centre and the Council of Trustees of
the National Gallery of Victoria, is to
engage in activities for the development,
conservation and elucidation of the arts
and to conduct artistic events. Clause
6 confers the necessary powers of the
college. Clause 7 specifies the member-
ship of the council. There are provisions
for members to be appointed by the
Governor in Council on the respective
nominations of the Council of Trustees
of the National Gallery and the Vic-
torian Arts Centre Trust, members
elected by the staff and students, seven
members appointed by the Governor in
Council, of whom one shall be a mem-
ber of the Parliament of Victoria and
six other members appointed by the
co-option by the council. The latter two
categories of appointments would be
made according to the various areas of
experience and expertise the council
needs in its membership to facilitate its
work. The council has been kept as
small as possible in the interests of
efficiency but it is, nonetheless, typical
in its composition of the governing
bodies of tertiary educational institu-
tions.

Clauses 8 to 13 are machinery pro-
visions for the council and clauses 14,
15 and 16 relate to the election of the
president and deputy president and their
roles. Clause 17 requires members of
the council to declare any pecuniary
interests on matters under considera-
tion and disqualifies such members from
voting on such matters. Clause 18 pro-
vides for matters before the council to
be decided by a majority of members
and stipulates the quorum for meetings
of the council. Clause 19 provides for
the council to appoint a director of the
college on such terms and conditions
as the council determines and outlines
the role and responsibilities of the
director.

Clause 20 empowers the council to
appoint and terminate appointment of
any member of the staff of the college.
The college, like all colleges of advanced
education, will be subject to the general
co-ordination of the Victorian Post-
Secondary Education Commission and
to the determinations of the Post-
Secondary Education Remuneration Tri-
bunal. Clause 21 empowers the college
to confer awards. Clause 22 provides for
delegations by the council and clauses
23 and 24 are standard provisions
regarding the validity of council pro-
ceedings and the liability of council
members.

Clause 25 constitutes the Board of
Studies whose functions are set out in
clause 26. Clauses 27 and 28 provide
for the making, changing and revocation
of statutes and regulations and I draw
attention to the role of the Board of
Studies in connection with statutes and
regulations relating to educational mat-
ters in clause 28. Clause 29 provides
that all fees and all other moneys re-
ceived by the college shall be applied
by the council solely for the purposes
of the college and that they may be
invested in any matter of investment
authorized by the council.

Clause 30 empowers the college to
borrow moneys with the approval of
the Treasurer subject to such terms,
conditions and limitations as the Treas-
urer imposes. It further provides that

the Treasurer may with the approval
of the Governor in Council, guarantee
the repayment of moneys borrowed by
the college. Clause 31 makes provision
for the college to assist members of
staff to purchase or lease homes for
their own use. Clause 32 further em-
powers the college to establish a fund
for use in assisting members of the
college in accordance with the statutes.

Clauses 33 and 34 make provision for
the acquisition, grant or reservation of
land by or on behalf of the college and
the council is empowered to create and
administer any trust fund or funds in
conjunction therewith. Clause 35 re-
quires the council to keep full and com-
plete books and accounts of all moneys
received and paid by the college and
provides for an annual audit of the
accounts of the college to be made by
the Auditor-General. Clause 36 requires
the college to report annually to the
Parliament. Clauses 37 and 38 are tran-
sition provisions to ensure continuity
and protect the interest of staff.

Since the Government created the
Victorian College of the Arts in 1973
on the foundation of the long-established
National Gallery of Victoria Art School,
the college has extended to encompass
education in music, opera, the dramatic

arts and in dance. Talented young Vic-
torians have accepted eagerly the op-
portunities afforded them to realize their
creative potential and each year sees a
growing number of the college's stud-
ents launched into satisfying and pro-
ductive careers.

At the same time, the college itself
has sought to develop both as a centre
of artistic activities and as an agency
for promoting interest and participation
in the arts throughout the community.
It has actively been encouraged in these
endeavours by the Ministry for the Arts,
which identifies the college's role as
fundamental to the Government's arts
policies. This legislation, which will be
the administrative responsibility of the
Minister for the Arts, will allow further
opportunities and incentives for co-
ordinated operations and it is the Gov-
ernment's intention, as means afforded,
further to assist the college to achieve
in full measure those objectives which
have been framed for it. I commend
the Bill to the House.

On the motion of Mr CATHIE (Car-
rum), the debate was adjourned.

It was ordered that the debate
adjourned until Thursday, April 2.

Mr Lacy

be

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