NiTRO + Creative Matters

Perspectives on creative arts in higher education

James Cook University proposes closure of creative arts

“James Cook University (JCU) is proposing to close the BA creative arts major in North Queensland by the end of 2023.

If these proposed changes are implemented, there will be no university qualification in creative arts available in far north Queensland, a devastating loss for Australia’s tropical arts ecology and its creative communities.

On 15 August 2023, JCU issued five Change Management Proposals, including one to close the Design and Creative Arts major in the BA at its Cairns and Townsville campuses”

Read more @ ArtsHub…

Other recent news

Other related news

Funding conversation continues…

Jenny Sinclair writing for Research Professional News… “Researchers call for longer project and fellowship grants” “The academy’s Early and Mid-Career Researcher Forum made its own submission, saying it has concerns about “whether the proposed scheme will provide sustainable career pathways”. The forum said the plan fails to distinguish between new PhD holders, later-stage researchers and […]

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2025 DDCA Awards Launched

The Australian Council of the Deans and Directors of Creative Arts is delighted to open submissions for our 2025 Awards! The DDCA Awards are designed to acknowledge and celebrate contributions to creative arts, elevate and share best practice, and encourage and promote the next generation of creative arts leaders in research and education.  Winners will […]

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DDCA Board Member Samantha Bennett wins ACGR award

Professor Samantha Bennett wins the 2025 Australian Council of Graduate Research Award for Excellence in Graduate Research Leadership A significant part of Samantha’s work is around broadening the PhD format to recognise creative practice research in HDR. Read more @ ANU…

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The National Advocates for Arts Education

The National Advocates for Arts Education (NAAE) is a network of peak national professional arts and arts education associations who represent arts educators across Australia. NAAE’s advocacy activity has included the Creative Arts and Arts Education: A National Tertiary Snapshot (2018–2025): a list of Creative Arts and Arts Education courses, majors and units that have […]

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Risky Business…

Our next Creative Matters edition on RISK will include a special section of your responses to the following questions: 1. How does the increasing bureaucratisation and brand-safeguarding against risk in the neo-liberalised university curtail creative and intellectual experimentation, and what strategies might creative practitioners in academia employ to resist this institutional anxiety? 2. What role can artistic and […]

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“New research lays bare the harsh realities facing artists and arts workers”

Marnie Badham in The Conversation “Our four-year study reveals workers are abandoning the visual art sector, largely because of unstable employment, below-average salaries and a lack of support. We present findings from the largest academic surveys of artists and arts workers to-date – the first conducted in 2022 (more than 700 respondents) and the second […]

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