By Professor David Shirley
Like most universities across the world, ECU has been forced to adapt in the face of the many and varied challenges presented by COVID-19.
Notwithstanding the impacts of such challenges, the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), when compared to other conservatoire schools across the world has fared extremely well. Following the closure of the campus for a two-month period, when much of our provision moved online, the situation in Western Australia meant that we were able to resume face to face teaching, rehearsals and performances in the second half of the year.
With live performance and production experience residing at the heart of our training and education, it was hugely beneficial for students to have been able to undertake a total of 18 live performances featuring students from Acting, Dance, Music Theatre, Aboriginal Theatre, Performing Arts, and Production and Design. Although the need for spatial distancing meant that audience attendances were restricted, it was nevertheless rewarding, at such a time, for students to be able to develop their craft and refine their skills in the presence of a live audience.
Thanks to innovative ways of using digital technology, WAAPA’s 2020 live streamed concert series – which included opera, contemporary and jazz music, classical music performance, and a collection of unique video performances created and performed by our Classical and Jazz students – reached combined audiences of over 320,00 people.
Whilst more generally application and recruitment rates for all of our courses remain stable, one of the consequences of the global pandemic will be its impact on WAAPA’s international recruitment levels. Unlike other areas of academic provision, performance disciplines such as dance, acting, music theatre, production and design etc. do not easily translate into online modes of delivery. The live and embodied nature of performer training coupled with the need to offer bespoke pedagogical experiences designed to meet an individual’s developmental needs pose particular problems across the training sector.
Here at WAAPA – despite the challenges presented – we continue to foster strong international partnerships and associations that will lay the foundations for recruitment, exchange, collaboration and research in the future. Many members of staff have contributed to and presented at webinar events across the world during 2020.
As a direct consequence of the pandemic, there is no doubt that at WAAPA, we have developed a range of innovative approaches to teaching and learning through online/recorded resources. This has been particularly successful in music, where students have benefitted from input and contributions from some of the world’s most celebrated practitioners. Similarly, in our Acting programme, students have had the chance to work and perform online and to fine tune those skills that are pertinent to screen/recorded performance.
At the commencement of the pandemic, it was extremely beneficial to connect and liaise with colleagues working in the performing arts across Australia and we are particularly grateful to Barbara Bolt and Jane Davidson (VCA), Liz Hughes (NIDA), Gemma Carey (Griffith) and Andrea Moor (QUT).
As we begin to emerge from the COVID-19 crisis, it will be important for all conservatoire schools to work closely together to share best practice and exchange ideas. There are many challenges facing the arts in general and the performing arts in particular, but with combined effort and a shared ethos, we are well equipped to adapt to a new sense of “normality” without undermining the quality and integrity of the uniquely empowering and enabling training and learning opportunities we make available.
Professor David Shirley is Executive Dean at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), Edith Cowan University