By Stephen Dee
A wide diversity of cultural and creative experiences helps students enrich their education and enables Monash to reach out into the community.
A university education is not only about gaining a qualification for a career -- it is about learning in the broadest sense of the word, about developing all our hidden dimensions by seeking exposure to a wide range of experiences, including cultural and creative ones. A strong artistic and cultural environment will serve to strengthen and enrich the primary endeavours of our future graduates and offer an ongoing stimulation and attraction to our alumni.
The arts are well and truly alive at Monash, with something always on offer to cater for every cultural taste. In 1998, the university will present at least 60 concerts, 20 theatri-cal productions and nine major art exhi-bitions, as well as performances by visiting companies.
Australia's premier Art & Design school is based at Monash's Caulfield campus, with artists and designers working and training at both the Caulfield and Gippsland campuses. The end-of-year student exhibitions are not to be missed for those who want to keep up with what's happening at the cutting edge of painting, sculpture, glass work, jewellery, ceramics and graphic design.
Monash has one of the best collections of contemporary Australian art, carefully assembled over many years and now valued at more than $6 million. Works from our collection are in hot demand by major national touring exhibitions, and are on display around the university and at the Monash University Gallery. Each year, the gallery presents nine or 10 thematic exhibitions of contemporary art from around Australia and abroad. The gallery's curato-rial staff and visiting artists are available to give floor talks to both the public and to school groups.
The university boasts an excellent drama school. The Centre for Drama and Theatre Studies, based at Clayton, has trained hundreds of actors, directors and teachers, and over the past three years has produced some 30 plays and musicals, including several Australian and world premieres. Added to this is the dynamic student theatre activity, under the new artistic direction of John Britton and Hilary Elliott. This year, Student Theatre will present eight major theatre productions.
The 1998 season at the university's Alexander Theatre includes productions by Bell Shakespeare, Opera Australia, Melbourne Theatre Company, Black Swan Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre Company and Playbox, in addition to performances by international artists such as the Rishile Gumboot Dancers from South Africa. Monash is also a major supporter of both the Playbox Theatre Company and the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art -- two of Melbourne's most cherished arts organisations.
The new Monash Orchestra, the Monash Wind Symphony and renowned choral groups Viva Voce and the Monash Women's Choir each present several public concerts annually and regularly tour overseas. Our 1998 Robert Blackwood Hall concert season also includes performances by the Melbourne Symphony and Musica Viva.
Monash's growing artists-in-residence program is proudly supporting leading flora artist Celia Rosser and renowned pianist Max Cooke and his magnificent Team of Pianists. Later this year, Indonesian sculptor and performance artist Dadang Christanto will be resident artist at the Gippsland campus, hopefully returning in 1999 for a major project.
Authorised by Jenni Chandler, Executive Director, University Marketing & Development
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