Learning on the road to Asia

Volume 7 Number 4 April 11 - May 8 2011

Indian Consul-General Anita Nayar with graduate students from Arts and Cultural Management, and Art Curatorship.
Indian Consul-General Anita Nayar with graduate students from Arts and Cultural Management, and Art Curatorship.

Students from the Masters of Arts and Cultural Management program pitched their ideas for travelling exhibitions to the Indian Consul-General recently. By Katherine Smith.

Graduate students are routinely expected to make class presentations, but students from the Master of Arts and Cultural Management and the Master of Art Curatorship had the added experience of pitching their ideas for a regional travelling art exhibition to the Indian Consul-General to Melbourne, Anita Nayar, in February.

The students, who were engaged in an intensive subject over the summer, included several international students. Class facilitator and Asian art expert Alison Carroll says local students have commented how much the experience and backgrounds of the international students add to the discussion in a useful and enriching way.

“Because this subject, Art and Cultural Management in Asia, focuses on the countries that are home to many of this University’s international students, they are really seen as class leaders, and the experience for everyone has been positive,” she said.

Although the exhibitions that the students are pitching are not at the moment genuinely conceived travelling shows, Ms Carroll says they may well become real, if the pitches are successful. “The artists featured are certainly of a quality to represent contemporary Australian art to our neighbours in the region.

Art Curatorship student Stephanie Sacco says although making her presentation to Ms Nayar was initially daunting, she felt it was a very worthwhile and rewarding experience, and she was privileged to have had the opportunity.

“Her feedback was very precise and in-depth, addressing aspects of my presentation that I hadn’t given much thought to, such as my exhibition title, the artistic content in relation to Indian artistic practices, and the possibility of expanding the exhibition content to perhaps include the works of local Indian artists,” she says.

“The wealth of knowledge that the lecturers bring to each subject in this course has been wonderful, and the practical experiences – the pitch presentation and the compulsory internship – coupled with frequent excursions to galleries and other cultural centres means we are learning in very practical settings.”

Pitches were also made to consular officials from Japan, Indonesia and China.
http://www.culture-communication.unimelb.edu.au/study/arts-management