GL Tango for Arts at UWS

Saturday, November 25, 2006 - 11:00

By Mr Rev Comrade Rowley, Sydney

The final 18 dance graduates from the University of Western Sydney University (UWSU) have been dancing their outrage in graduation performances and theatres in the west of Sydney. The graduates are the last of the Bachelor of Performance Theory & Practice course, which will be "retired" after 20 years of success. "Retired" is the university's word for no new student intake for 2007. The course is one of four to go for reasons of space allocation and low attendance according to inside sources.

Titled An Absurd Little Bird, the performance not only inspired but educated audiences about the corporatisation of education and the decline of arts through the dancing of the tango of Argentina. The performances are also a collective action by students and teachers against the course closure.

"We lament the fact dance is now no longer here and we lament the fact that the arts in Australia are so undervalued," said Elizabeth Cameron-Dalmon, head teacher of dance at UWSU. Cameron-Dalmon told Green Left Weekly the performance course was "being taught out" when she took up the position three years ago. However, she had been working to keep the course alive due to the art of dance being an "ecology of the community".

The news of closure motivated students to take collective action to express what they were feeling through dance. While students fundraised in a combined effort to get the performance going, a Latin American theme ultimately inspired the work. A painting by Jack Vittriano showing a couple dancing the tango as a storm is breaking was the starting point. "The couple dancing the Tango is a symbol for the dance course, the storm (the university) is the force pushing it out", said Cameron-Dalmon.

Authors note: Originally published by Green Left Weekly issue 692. Originally published in Mr Rev Comrade Rowley's deadname. Western Sydney University has corrected its name and should not be deadnamed. Reposted here without alteration of the content and without prejudice.

GL UWS fine arts next on Howard's chopping block?

Wednesday, November 17, 2006 - 11:00

By Mr Rev Comrade Rowley & Fred Fuentes, Sydney

Recent academic and technical staff retrenchments have cast doubts about the future of the fine arts course at the Penrith campus of the University of Western Sydney University (UWSU). 

As a result of the Howard government's starving of universities of funding to open them up to the "free market", numerous courses are being shut down across the country as universities try to balance their budgets. 

Already this year, a large part of the arts faculty at the University of Queensland and the political economy department at Sydney University have come under the hammer. 

"Over the last six months staffing levels have been cut in half and UWSU management is exploring alternative uses for the purpose-built fine arts facility at Penrith campus", student representative Thomas Hungerford told Green Left Weekly. 

The UWSU Penrith campus's fine arts, electronic art and performance courses will all go next year as part of this savage attack. This month, a technical officer who operated the tool shop at Z block and the head of the printing department were made redundant. This has meant the printing room is only open two days a week and students are having trouble getting work completed for the graduation exhibition, which is held each year. 

Similarly, the hours the shop remains open have also been cut drastically and many students are having to bring tools like as Stanley knives and screwdrivers with them from home. 

GLW was told by a number of academics who asked to remain anonymous that staff have been threatened with losing potential voluntary redundancy payments if they speak out against the cuts. 

On September 21, student representatives, fine art students and Resistance members held a speak-out on the campus, collecting several pages of signatures on a petition against these cuts.

Authors Note: Originally published by Green Left Weekly issue 685. Originally published in Mr Rev Comrade Rowley's deadname. Western Sydney University has corrected its name and should not be deadnamed. Reposted here without alteration of the original content and without prejudice.