Music, Performing Arts and Visual Arts

6 minute read

As a graduate researcher, you’ll be part of a thriving creative community in the heart of the Melbourne Arts Precinct.

The Faculty of Fine Arts and Music has an active and vibrant research culture. This culture combines an exploratory and experimental approach to enquiry. It draws upon both traditional and practice-led modes of research in the pursuit of excellence and innovation. Interdisciplinary collaboration is a key feature of our work. The process of colliding traditional and emerging ideas, perspectives, knowledges and methods creates an environment of intellectual opportunity. It also informs and infuses our approach to teaching and learning.

In 1978 Professor Denise Grocke initiated music therapy as a discipline in Australia. In 2016, we launched Australia’s first research unit for the application of creative arts and music therapies across the healthcare spectrum.

Also in 2016, we established Australia's only dedicated research unit for Indigenous arts and culture: the Research Unit for Indigenous Arts and Cultures (RUIAC). RUIAC aims to support and grow Indigenous research and researchers in the arts. As a faculty, we continue to grow Indigenous representation among students, researchers and academic staff.

The Faculty of Fine Arts and Music encompasses Australia’s oldest and most prestigious music institution the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music (MCM). This organisation includes the largest community of music students and academics in Australia. The faculty is also home to the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). If you choose to do your research with the VCA, you’ll join a community of practicing artists and writers, designers, performers and more.

The faculty also hosts the Wilin Centre for Indigenous Arts and Cultural Development. This centre connects Indigenous artists with a career in visual and performing arts. This means that the wider community can learn through longstanding traditions of Indigenous culture.

Be part of a vibrant arts community

Most arts and music research is based at our Southbank campus, which sits in the heart of the Melbourne Arts Precinct.

This area of Melbourne includes the most visited art gallery and busiest performing arts centre in Australia. And it has one of the highest concentrations of arts and cultural organisations in the world.

From this location you can easily participate in the artistic life of Melbourne. You’ll be close to many exhibitions, performances, masterclasses and other significant events in Melbourne's cultural calendar.

Our campus buildings and spaces support our teaching, learning and research activities. We have the latest technologies and infrastructure to support your discovery process. Facilities include the VCA print workshop, production design studios and professional film and television studios.

Since 2018, we’ve invested in several major re-developments at our Southbank campus to create a world-class experience for our community:

The Ian Potter Southbank Centre opened in 2019, and is home to the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. This new nine-storey facility is now close to partner organisations such as the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Australian Chamber Orchestra.
The Stables is a new facility that includes 170 visual arts studios, exhibition spaces and a wing for performances.
Buxton Contemporary is a major new contemporary art museum, located on campus.

The University’s Parkville campus is home to Melba Hall. With 340 seats, this is the scene of many music recitals and performances.

Find out more about our campus experience.

A new home for the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music

The new Ian Potter Southbank Centre is both architecturally beautiful and highly functional. Discover what it's like to learn and perform in this impressive purpose-built space.

The design of the Ian Potter Southbank Centre

Learn how we’re making a difference

We are currently leading a three-year study into the use of music therapy for people with dementia – the first of its kind in the world. This project secured over $A1 million in funding from Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council.

This research has already demonstrated fascinating insights. This includes music’s ability to facilitate learning, even in people with declining cognitive function.

We’ve created an app to help dance therapists assess their clients’ progress. This means that dance therapists can more easily demonstrate the benefit of their work. And this potentially leads to increased access to music therapy.

Technology has also been used for visual arts research, to explore themes of death and transience of life. This project used immersive audio, paintings, text messages and apps to convey the inevitability of death. And to remind us that in our busy and cluttered lives, the inanimate collections we amass will outlive us.

We’ve undertaken research into the mechanism of musical mastery. It showed that motivation and the quality of music practice are powerful predictors of performance. This finding can help musicians to practice more effectively.

This is only a snapshot of the faculty's research. We’re continuing to push the boundaries of fine arts and music inquiry, on a global scale.

#UniResearchChangesLives - Supporting people with dementia

Using music therapy to help people with dementia

By 2050, there will be almost 900,000 Australians living with dementia. Memory loss and communication difficulties are common symptoms associated with dementia.

Music is connected with memories and emotion. It can be used to activate the brain's pleasure centre. Learn how research into music therapy could lead to more cost effective treatments for dementia.

Explore research themes

The Faculty of Fine Arts and Music has several multidisciplinary research centres and units exploring different research themes.

Centre for Visual Arts (CoVA) fosters an extensive community of artists, scholars and other thinkers to address issues in art practice, history, curatorship, arts writing and cultural management.
Creative Arts and Music Therapy Research Unit investigates how drama, dance, creative art, and music therapy can benefit those within various healthcare settings.
Research Unit for Indigenous Arts and Cultures (RUIAC) aims to support and grow Indigenous research and researchers in the arts.
Music, Mind and Wellbeing Initiative brings together researchers from neuroscience, music therapy and psychology.
Creativity & Wellbeing Hallmark Research Initiative brings together researchers from seven faculties. They are investigating the relationship between creativity and wellbeing, and the impact of creativity on wellbeing across the lifespan.

As a graduate researcher, you can pursue research across all our discipline areas, including:

acting and theatre
composition (music)
creative arts and music therapy
dance
design and production
ethnomusicology and musicology
film & TV
Indigenous arts and culture
music performance
music psychology
performance teaching
social practice and community engagement
visual art
writing.

Music research

Music research takes place at the MCM, Australia’s premier music research institution. It attracts more competitive research funding for music studies than other universities, particularly from the Australian Research Council (ARC).

Musical legacies and futures