Performing arts education in Australia refers to the teaching of different styles of creative activity that are performed publicly. The performing arts in Australia encompasses many disciplines including music, dance, theatre, musical theatre, circus arts and more. Performing arts education in Australia occurs both formally and informally at all levels of education, including in schools, tertiary institutions and other specialist institutions. There is also a growing body of evidence, from the Australian Council for the Arts and the Parliament of Australia, showing that First Nation's participation in the arts and culture has significant economic, social and cultural benefits to Australia and further supports the outcomes of the Australian governments ‘Closing the Gap’ campaign. There has been an increasing number of scholarships opening up in educational institutions for Indigenous Australians aimed at encouraging this participation in the arts.
History of performing arts education in Australia
The first Australian Educational Curriculum, drawn up in Victoria in 1872, was based on approximately 7 subjects, which were reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, geography, drill, gymnastics as well as sewing and needlework for females. These were all skills or knowledge based subjects lacking creative and visual appeal. Therefore, in the early history of Australia, performing arts education was outsourced from schools and taught privately.
On 12 October 1924 Sir Bernard Heinze organised the first concert for children in Melbourne, which has been regarded as the first education project by an Australian performing arts organisation.
On 23 March 1974, the National Youth and Children's Performing Arts Association of Australia was created during the Adelaide Festival. The organisation was developed after the Australian Council for the Arts (ACA) formed a Youth Panel focused on improving the quality in performing arts for young individuals in 1972. Acting as a national organisation, the aims and objectives were outlined as follows: 1 To stimulate, promote and develop the performing and community arts by and for young people; 2) To encourage and co-ordinate the exchange of ideas and information between members, producing bodies, funding bodies, schools, colleges, universities and all interested persons through newsletters, journals, workshops and festivals; 3) To encourage and facilitate the exchange of personnel as widely as possible in the field.In the following year, the organisation became a constituted body and rebranded as the Australian Youth Performing Arts Association (AYPAA). The association began to fulfil its role through organising the Children's Programme for the Australia 75 Festival of the Arts and Science held in Canberra in March 1975. Contributed generously by funding from the Schools Commission, the program was a comprehensive educational experiencing ranging from performances by youth theatre groups and theatre-in-education companies to drama camps.
The amount of activity occurring in the performing arts sector grew quickly in the 1970s, as indicated by the records of the 1977 Directory of Youth Performing arts in Australia. In Queensland, the youth and junior Little Theatre movement flourished, in addition to theatre-in-education groups initiated by La Boite, the Queensland Theatre Company, Twelfth Night Theatre, and the Education Department. By then, youth orchestras, choral music activities, and dance were prevalent in most states.
A lot of the changes that improved performing arts education in Australia can be attributed to an enquiry into the major performing arts entitled ‘Securing the Future’’ headed by Helen Nugent in 1999, which lead to significant changes most notably an increase in the amount of government support for the sector through the Australia Council and what was then the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts.
Music
In the 60s and 70s, the main teaching method for music education in Australian classrooms was ‘exploration.’ Introduced by music educators Carl Orff, Emile Jaques Dalcroze, R. Murray Schafer, and George Self, the technique of ‘exploration’ was a means of engaging students in making new music and sounds. These were often combined with formal theory lessons, however it was deemed that this learning style was not effective in student's music learning.