{"id":1507,"date":"2016-01-25T14:37:56","date_gmt":"2016-01-25T03:37:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acuads.com.au\/?page_id=1507"},"modified":"2022-06-09T14:00:20","modified_gmt":"2022-06-09T04:00:20","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/acuads.com.au\/about\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Emeritus Professor David Williams AM
Australian National University
Director ANU School of Art 1986-2006
NCHADS Executive 1986-1993
ACUADS Executive 1994\u20132006; Chair 1994, 1997, 2003\u20132004<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PDF version: A history of ACUADS<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Since its inception, ACUADS has collaborated with other associations in the arts, forming a united voice in the advocacy for the arts in the university sector. This strategy has been important for addressing common concerns, such as the importance of appropriate funding for teaching and research in the creative arts, the introduction of postgraduate education opportunities and support for cross-disciplinary study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a leader in the broader arts education field, ACUADS has been involved in the formation of the Council of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHASS) and, more recently, the Australian Council of Deans and Directors of Creative Arts (DDCA). In this context, ACUADS has assisted in bringing the creative arts disciplines to national attention. This united voice has proved to be successful in championing support for creative arts teaching and research in Australia\u2019s higher education sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ACUADS is recognised as the national association of colleagues in the university sector, promoting quality professional education, fostering research in art, craft and design education, and providing advocacy for the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The oldest Australian art and design schools were established in the late 19th<\/sup> and early 20th<\/sup> centuries. Their origins were in state-based technical education and they gave little thought to the formation of a national discipline association. Art and design schools established later, in the 1960s and 1970s, were associated with Colleges of Advanced Education (CAE) and Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutions. In the late 1980s, when Australian Government policy abolished the binary system of higher education (universities and colleges), art and design schools were progressively incorporated into the university sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1967, an Australian UNESCO seminar was held at Melbourne\u2019s National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) as a follow up to a 1965 International Association of Art (IAA) conference in London. The seminar, chaired by Eric Westbrook (Director NGV), proposed the establishment of an association for art and design education (Australian UNESCO Seminar, 1970).<\/p>\n\n\n\n A related development was the establishment of the Australia Council for the Arts and its subsequent re-formation as the Australia Council in 1972, which included the establishment of art-form boards. The Visual Arts Board (VAB) and Crafts Board (CB) were particularly relevant to the art and design education sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In May 1974, the Visual Arts Board convened and funded a national seminar: Tertiary Art Education: Art Teacher Education <\/em>at the University of Tasmania, Hobart. In his Foreword to the report following the seminar, John Baily, Visual Arts Board and Seminar Chairman wrote:<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was the first meeting at a national level of staff from tertiary art and design schools for seven years, and it happened at a very crucial time, a time of considerable activity both in the art world in general and in art schools. Most art and design schools and departments are now parts of Colleges of Advanced Education and are being funded by the Commission on Advanced Education; many are in the process of introducing new courses at both degree and diploma level; and many are planning new buildings. Tertiary education is more accessible to students, with the availability of more courses and the introduction of TEAS, the Tertiary Education Allowance Scheme (National Seminar on Art Education and Art Teacher Education).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The seminar concluded with the recommendation: that ‘there should be further meetings at frequent intervals, and that these include participation by all levels of staff, and by students, recent graduates and any interested parties’ (National Seminar on Art Education and Art Teacher Education).<\/p>\n\n\n\n In October 1974, the VAB seminar\u2019s recommendation was taken up by a Melbourne-based steering committee that agreed to the formation of the Australian Association for Tertiary Art and Design Education (AATADE).[1]<\/a> The Association attracted the support of tertiary art and design studio-based staff, mainly from Victorian universities, CAEs and TAFE institutions. However, with the formation and growth of the nationally-focused Conference of Heads of Art and Design Schools, established in 1981, support for AATADE faded and it produced its last newsletter in November 1984.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1976, another Melbourne-based organisation, the Australian Institute of Art Education (AIAE) was established as a national body of visual arts educators concerned with scholarly exploration and promotion of education theory and practice. AIAE attracted support from Teachers\u2019 College art education lecturers and Education Department art curriculum specialists. AIAE was closely aligned with the International Society for Education through the Arts (INSEA) and the Australian Society for Education through Art (ASEA).[2]<\/a> AIAE publishes a journal and held an international INSEA Congress in Melbourne in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the VAB seminar in 1974, there has been little formal or organised connection between professional art and design educators and professional art teacher educators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 1980s and early 1990s was a period of reform in Australia\u2019s higher education sector as art and design schools transitioned from the former CAEs and TAFE areas into the university sector. It was in this context that most capital city-based Heads and Directors of art and design schools met during a 1981 Sydney seminar supported by the VAB. At this meeting, there was agreement to hold annual meetings and informally establish a national consortium of art and design heads of schools. This conference became the basis for an unincorporated association established in 1989 called the National Council of Heads of Art and Design Schools (NCHADS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The initiative recognised that professional visual art, craft and design educators needed a nation-wide communication network and a focus for activity and exchange at the national level as recommended by the 1974 Hobart seminar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The newly formed NCHADS brochure stated its aims as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n to further the role of education of professional artists, craftspeople and designers; As art and design were new to the university sector, both teaching and research areas required adaptation in order to operate in the higher education context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1989, NCHADS convened its first national conference in Canberra. Since then, annual conferences convened in capital cities on rotation have responded to contemporary issues and advanced the interests of the art and design education sector. Conference themes have included: Convergence\/Divergence<\/em> (UTas, 1995); Framing New Perspectives<\/em> (ANU, 1996); Cross Sector Collaboration<\/em> (Curtin, 1997); Future perfect <\/em>(RMIT 1998) and Building Bridges<\/em> (SCA, 1999).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 1990s was a period of growth and professional development for NCHADS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Coinciding with the 1991 annual conference at RMIT, the first National Student Art & Design Exhibition was organised by RMIT\u2019s Art & Design Faculty. The exhibition was held in Melbourne\u2019s Royal Exhibition Building and officially opened by Barry Pullen MP, Victorian Minister for Education and Training. The show attracted national media interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also in 1994, ACUADS held its first international conference at the Elam School of Fine Art, University of Auckland, in New Zealand. This represented a new horizon for Australian art and design schools and included delegates from Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand. The same year, ACUADS opened its annual conferences to participation by all art and design academic staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSynopsis<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Background<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Key dates, organisations and associations<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Australian Higher Education reform<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
identify, on a national basis, issues of common concern;
formulate recommendations and to articulate and represent them at institutional, state and federal levels;
foster research and development into all aspects of the visual arts and design;
collect, co-ordinate and disseminate information relevant to art and design education (NCHADS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n