Professor Ryan Daniel
November marks a turning point in the academic year. It is the time when classes have finished for the year but also the time when all assessment tasks are submitted, exam papers are in, and academics commence the huge task of marking, validating and presenting final subject grades. The work continues right up until the examiners meeting which is in early December. There is no rest for our fabulous teachers who work hard right up to the Christmas break.
November and December is in fact a very busy time in general for the School. On both campuses we are hosting a number of school groups in workshops. Many of our staff continue to develop their skills by such activities as attending and presenting at conferences around the country. We are also spending a considerable amount of time planning for 2009, which includes the purchase of new equipment, preparation of new subjects for both campuses, and a continuing focus on attaining quality and excellence in all of our daily activities. We continue to strive to achieve the vision of an international reputation for excellence in the creative arts.
For students who may be leaving, I wish you well on behalf of the School. Stay in touch and keep us up to date with your creative futures. Good luck. Be brave and embrace the world and its wonderful opportunities.
Go to our web pages to see where our graduates are located – the world is an exciting place for people with passion and commitment to the arts!
Experiencing the Creative Arts in Cairns
On Tues 18 Nov about 40 secondary students from various schools around the Cairns region participated in an exciting day of workshops in the areas of Performance and Media Arts at the School of Creative Arts, Cairns campus. Students reported a great day, learning new skills and gaining experience in what the SoCA has to offer.
Girls in IT at JCU 
Approximately 90 year 8 students from across Townsville and surrounding schools spent a day at JCU partaking in a range of fun digital activities. The focus of the event was to encourage young females into the area of Information Technology.
Some of the activities that were enjoyed by the students included photoshop, action-script and animation between the School of Creative Arts and the School of Maths, Physics and IT.
To arrange a creative arts workshop or similar activity for your senior students in Townsville or Cairns, please contact elly.murrell@jcu.edu.au or phone 4781 3142.
SoCA staff awarded with Inclusive Practice Award
Four members of staff from the School of Creative Arts team inlcuding Clive Hutchison, Mitch Goodwin, Ben Van Houts and Kirsten Heritage were recognised and awarded for their efforts for supporting students studying with a disability.
Inclusive Practice Awards are presented annually to JCU staff members who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to assisting students studying with a disability. Inclusive practice is an objective of the University and acknowledges the support provided by staff to be flexible, consultative, proactive, and/or innovative in minimising the challenges for students’ studying with a disability. Staff are nominated by students registered with the Disability Resources Centre.
This year, in 2008, we have had the highest number of professional and academic staff members nominated by students. In Townsville there were 23 nominations and in Cairns there were 5 nominations.
Party time at SoCA
Students and the general public recently celebrated the end of semester with a break up party in the outdoor performance space. Besides the chance for students to finally relax and enjoy some live bands, digital art displays, short film screenings and a free bbq, there was also a good turn out for a special guest lecture by film producer Louise Smith from the Sydney Travelling Film Festival. Louise is internationally recognised for her debut feature films including The Square, The Pitch and The Rage in Placid Lake to name a few.
Student photo shortlisted as possible winner
Former JCU Creative Arts student Honey Atkinson has been shortlisted in the Canon Photo5 competition. If you like Honey’s photograph you can vote for it online. You can find the shot in the Professional: Ribbon section at www.canon.com.au/photo5/gallery/default.aspx
La Luna Youth Arts has new facelift thanks to SoCA students
A group of 2nd year Design students completing the Bachelor of New Media Arts were given the task of completely re-designing a unique webpage for local community arts organisation La Luna Youth Arts.
This eight week project was an assessment piece, however students also gained valuable experience working in collaboration with “real-life” clients, including having a practical session by industry professional Michael Smith, Creative Art Director from OracleStudio in Townsville.
La Luna staff were very happy with the amazing talent from the students and found it difficult to choose a winning group.
Congratulations goes to the Ross Mason, Ashley Cooper, Skye Warren, Andrew Rankin and Meegan Chadwick for their fantastic web design. To see this webpage, go to www.lalunanq.com
Dick Desert rocking it up at JCU 
JCU staff and students were lucky to experience one of Brisbane’s best Country-Punk bands rocking it up on stage at the SoCA Outdoor Performance Space last month.
Dick Desert and the Shotgun Country Club, feature Bob Weatherall, an Aboriginal Elder from St George as drummer, Matt Muklewicz, a DJ and music archivalist with 4ZZZ Brisbane on harmonica, Dallas Gale guitarist and hired gunman from Melbourne and the notorious Dick Desert as bass guitarist and front gunslinger.
The band members had no time to rest whilst visiting sunny North Queensland. Straight after their rocking gig they were standing in front of a lecture hall full of Creative Arts students as guest lecturers explaining to students what it is like in the “real world” to work collaboratively as artists in all facets of the industry including web marketing, graphic design, producing animation film clips, merchandising and self promoting the band and their music.
A second gig was also enjoyed by the general public at a local pub and live music venue Molly Malones the following night. Keep your ears open as this won’t be the last live band to hit the stage at SoCA!
Graduating student exhibition well received by community
Close to 4,000 visitors have came through the Perc Tucker Regional Gallery over the last few weeks to see the best of JCU’s Creative Art student’s works. The exhibition titled Top Shelf: Improved With Time showcases artwork from a collection of graduates of the Bachelor of Photography and Bachelor of Visual Arts from 2008.
The exhibition is on show until 2pm Sun 7 Dec. Don’t miss it!
Artistic help required for festival in Cairns
Experience in putting together a community arts event is offered to any Creative Industries students or anyone else interested in assisting with a Chinese New Year production at the end of this year in Cairns.
For more information phone 0419 817 248
Australian Concerto Vocal Competition for North Queensland
Sat 18 – Fri 24 July 2009
SOLOIST:
Open Section – Total prize money, five finalists $8,000
1st prize – $4,000 PLUS additional performance opportunities
2nd prize – $2,000; 3rd rpize – $1,000
Australian Section (Aust composers); Vocal, Instrumental & Solo Sections will commence on Sun 19 July with school age section.
ENSEMBLES:
School ensembles (3-8 performers)
Open ensembles (3-8 performers) – 1st $1,000; 2nd $600; 3rd $400
Both sections will be held Sat 18 July
Total prize money is over $18,000
Entries close 20 May 2009 – entry forms will be available from Jan 2009.
For details and entry forms visit www.nqconcerto.org or phone 4728 9223
The School of Creative Arts, JCU is proud to be a sponsor of this event.
Calling all photography students
Calling all photography students for a competition to create a unique exhibition highlighting global environmental issues…
James Cook University is one of 10 universities in Australasia chosen to compete in Student Focus, the Sony World Photography Awards’ university programme. 60 universities across six continents will be competing in the awards and James Cook University is one of the select few to have been chosen to take part in this prestigious international Awards programme.
The Sony World Photography Awards (WPA), now in its second year, has expanded its student initiative to create a truly global competition to find tomorrow’s photography professionals. With the environment as the central theme of the Sony World Photography Awards 2009, the brief for the students is to create an image which highlights an environmental issue specific to their country.
Universities will select 120 images, two from each university, for the WPA. A shortlist of two students from one university from each continent will then be selected by a prestigious judging panel from the photographic community.
The ten universities selected from Australasia are:
Griffith University, Queensland, Australia
Raffles, NSW, Australia
University of Technology Sydney, NSW, Australia
RMIT, Victoria, Australia
James Cook University, Queensland, Australia
The University of Auckland, New Zealand
University of Tasmania, Tasmania
Massey University, New Zealand
The University of Sydney, NSL, Australia
Murdoch University, Perth, Australia
The 12 shortlisted students, along with their tutors, win an expenses-paid trip to Cannes in April 2009. As part of the Festival at The Sony World Photography Awards, finalists will conduct their final assignment from which an overall University winner will be decided. They will also participate in a series of lectures including ‘Can Photography Make a Difference? with Tom Ang, a range of masterclasses, and portfolio sessions with leading industry experts.
The overall student winner will be announced, along with the winners of the professional and amateur categories, at the Sony World Photography Awards ceremony at the Palais des Festival on 16 April 2009. The Student Focus prize is over 45,000 Euros’ worth of photography equipment for the winning university, courtesy of the sponsor, Sony.
A highlight of the festival in Cannes will be a showcase of photographs selected from the student submissions from all of the 60 participating universities. When presented together, the photographs are expected to create an international collective view of our planet as seen by a new generation of photographers.
Jim O’Brien at James Cook University comments “we are delighted JCU has been chosen to compete for such an esteemed award. We hope to make the most of this wonderful opportunity.”
For more details about this competition visit: www.worldphotographyawards.org
New Media Award Exhibition at GoMA
Don’t miss this opportunity to see the finalists involved the Premier of Queensland’s New Media Awards now showing at the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) in Brisbane until 8 Feb 2009.
Premier Bligh presented Mr Alwast with the $75,000 prize at a special event held at GoMA last month.
Mr Alwast was one of nine finalists short-listed for this prestigious national art award, the most significant prize for new media in the country. His winning entry Everything 2008 is an extraordinary three-channel video installation that explores new shifts in video based practice.
Premier of Queensland’s National New Media Art Award 
1 Nov 08 – 8 Feb 09
Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA)
Stanley Place,
Cultural Centre
South Bank, Brisbane
Free admission
For further information visit GoMA
