“Long term friends and collaborators” announce official partnership

Arts Centre Melbourne has announced an official partnership with the University of Melbourne (UoM) in a move that is set to “foster cultural development within the Melbourne Arts Precinct”.

The partnership aims to reinforce the “longstanding relationship between the two organisations”, with both parties indicating a shared interest in “education, connection, artistic innovation and collaboration.”

“We’re proud to partner with our colleagues at Arts Centre Melbourne to deliver new projects that will enhance the cultural life of our city,” deputy vice-chancellor of global culture and engagement, professor Michael Wesley said.

Collaborations will be underpinned by the establishment of five key priorities:

• Precinct and Place
• Training and Learning
• Indigenous Knowledges
• Research
• Programming and Venues

“It’s been incredibly important to ideate and map out our five themes so that we can ensure the partnership is strategic, mutually beneficial and long term,” partnerships manager Siobhan Kranz told Southbank News.

Arts Centre Melbourne’s chief executive officer Karen Quinlan AM said she was looking forward to the “wide-reaching impact” that the partnership will bring with a focus on these values.

Students from UoM’s Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) and the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music will be able to access significant advantages as a result of the partnership, including professional development opportunities, hands-on industry experience, and access to Arts Centre Melbourne’s state-of-the-art facilities.

In previous collaborations, UoM students from the Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation have been able to work alongside Arts Centre Melbourne’s Australian Performing Arts Collection (APAC) in acquiring iconic costumes by Akira Isogawa from the Sydney Dance Company wardrobe.

“By strengthening this relationship, we not only broaden prospects for our students and researchers but also reinforce the UoM’s standing as a global hub for arts, culture, and Indigenous knowledge,” Mr Wesley said.

Supporting the partnership’s commitment to integrating Indigenous knowledge is UoM’s recently launched Indigenous Strategy, Murmuk Djerring, as well as Arts Centre Melbourne’s appointment of Troy Walsh as executive director of First Nations, equity and inclusion.

The announcement comes in light of Dr Eddie Cubillo’s recent resignation as associate dean of UoM’s Melbourne Law School (MLS) due to allegations of perpetuating racism he faced at the institution.

In a lecture delivered at the University of Sydney in August that has been removed from the university’s website as a result of ongoing legal issues, Dr Cubillo described “casual and pervasive racisms as an everyday occurrence” within academic institutions such as UoM.

Dr Cubillo highlighted both the immediate need to establish an anti-racism body at the university, as well as a mandatory Indigenous legal subject as part of the curriculum at MLS. •

Caption: From L-R: Professor Richard Kurth, Professor Sara Wills, Arts Centre Melbourne Executive Director, Strategy, Advocacy and Partnerships Fiona Poletti, Professor Marie Sierra, Professor Emma Redding, Arts Centre Melbourne Deputy CEO Tammy Willenberg, and Arts Centre Melbourne Director of Infrastructure Mark Baldwin.