Artswipe Swipes Again!

Thanks to The Artswipe for emailing us about her newest post, which suggests that Western Sydney regional galleries should stop involving UWS academics in their events given there is no endoresement of art now at the uni. Good one Artswipe! Read it HERE.

Mayors push for another uni in west

Harriet Alexander Higher Education Reporter
Sydney Morning Herald
April 18, 2008

MAYORS in Sydney's west are pushing for a second university in the region because they say the University of Western Sydney is cutting vital courses, reducing staff and failing to meet demand from students.

The president of the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils, Tony Hay, said the region needed more university places to meet the growth in population, now 1.8 million.

"And if that means a second university in Western Sydney, so be it," said Mr Hay, who is also Mayor of Baulkham Hills.

South Australia, which has a smaller population, is served by three universities, he said.

The University of Western Sydney has six campuses, including Hawkesbury, Penrith, Bankstown, Parramatta, Campbelltown and Blacktown, but it announced last year it was winding up courses at the Blacktown campus.

It has cut its performing and fine arts programs and is rationalising its nursing program by moving places from Bankstown to the other three campuses where it is offered.

The university has also embarked on a voluntary redundancy program among academic staff, raising concerns about its already high staff to student ratio.

Leo Kelly, the Mayor of Blacktown, has asked the federal Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, to fund a restructure that would allow courses to continue at Blacktown, western Sydney's most populous postcode, and failing that, to build another university in the area.

"Our message to them was that the university had been dismantled by stealth and really needed to be restructured, with this Government's policy in mind, to allow people from this region to get an education," Cr Kelly said.

The university was only set up after lobbying by Blacktown Council, he said. "They've betrayed us."

Ms Gillard promised to send a policy adviser to assess problems at the university, he said.

Representatives from 11 councils, including Baulkham Hills, Blacktown, Penrith, Hawkesbury and Campbelltown, met the university's vice chancellor, Janice Reid, last week to discuss their concerns.

Professor Reid said the meeting was a watershed for the university's alliances with local government, but there were always a few mayors among the 14 councils in the university's catchment who were unhappy with its direction.

Professor Reid said the university had closed its Blacktown campus because few students were studying there and it was moving its nursing places as part of a broader program to concentrate courses at a few campuses where it could build critical mass.

UWS Artists & Exhibitionists Have a Massive Week!

Click on image to enlarge

On Wednesday night (9 April) Mori Gallery opened a large group exhibition given over to artists hailing from University of Western Sydney's art school. The show runs until 26 April. Check it out - it's amazing!

Bent Western Live on Stage
Image: Anastasia Zaravinos

On Saturday night (14 April), Blacktown Arts Centre hosted Bent Western: Live on Stage - a night of queer cabaret mayhem to celebrate the closing of the exhibition Bent Western, a group exhibition predominantly made up of queer artists who had studied at the UWS art school over the years. The live show last night was an absolute hoot and among the 21 performers were UWS alumni Anastasia Zaravinos, Liam Benson, Sari TM Kivinen, Tim Hilton, Daniel Mudie Cunningham, Jessica Olivieri, Melissa Ramos and Raymond Haber.

UWS reshapes fine-arts program
By Anita Maglicic and Clare Bruce

from Northern News 1 April 2008

AS STUDENTS at the University of Western Sydney settle into their first semester of classes, some are lamenting that this is the final year for the fine arts and electronic arts degrees.

Last year the university announced these courses would be replaced by a four-year Bachelor of Contemporary Art degree in 2008, but it failed to attract enough applicants.

In the revised version, a two-year TAFE Diploma of Fine Arts will be a prerequisite for a two-year Bachelor of Contemporary Art degree that will start next year.

Studio art such as painting and drawing, printmaking, ceramics and sculpture will now be taught at Kingswood TAFE and other campuses.

In the two-year degree component, students will study media and digital arts, photo media, animation, screen and sound, convergent and interactive media, digital music and art history and theory.

The 25 to 30 students of the fine arts and electronic art degrees who started in 2006 will be the last, as these courses are phased out by 2009. TAFE students who have already completed the diploma component can start the new degree next year.

Tony Hay, the president of Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils, said he was was disappointed about the loss of courses and blamed a lack of advertising.

"Western Sydney's distance, transport problems and socioeconomic disadvantage already places serious challenges on our artists," he said.

Lori Saywell, a 2007 graduate, agreed the university didn't do enough marketing.

"I found out about the course through a friend because I didn't know it was there," she said.

Professor Lynette Sheridan Burns, the head of communication art at UWS, said the course was advertised through brochures, the prospectus and on the university website.

She said the changes were due to a lack of applicants in the high-cost courses.

"Governments have reduced funding to universities that specialise in particular areas of study."

She said there had been a decline in fine-art enrolments nationally, not just in western Sydney.

Penrith councillor Jim Aitken, who has already asked the university to reconsider, said: "I think it's regretful that UWS can't find somewhere to cut back a little to let the full degree continue.

"The council supports the arts very heavily in Penrith through our Q Theatre, Joan Sutherland Centre and Penrith Regional Gallery.

"We are building a city known for its education and culture this decision is something that will retard this growth."

Also published as part of this story was this smaller article:

The history of the art school

THE UWS art school at Penrith was established in 1981 as part of the Nepean College of Advanced Education, to cater for budding artists in the west.

In its heyday in the late ’80s and early ’90s, it had more than 1000 students, 100 staff including highly respected Australian artists, and a high status in the arts scene. Some called it the ‘‘jewel in the university’s crown’’.

It has produced highly regarded artists such as Brook Andrew, Raquel Ormella and Con Gouriotis (now Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre director), while the theatre program has produced actors such as David Wenham.

The School of Contemporary Arts once included performance, fine arts, dance and electronic art. By the end of this year, the only degree left of those will be music.

In July 2007, a forum was held at Blacktown Arts Centre as part of a major art event called Western Front, to discuss the issues faced by the art world of western Sydney. A source said that the decline of the UWS arts department was on the agenda, but no one from the university attended to explain its side of the story, despite invitations.