Save SCA

As a PhD candidate I value the difference Sydney College of the Arts offers from the other art schools. SCA has been one of the preeminent art schools in Australia for over 40 years and its graduates, staff and current students make a significant and vital contribution to the social, cultural and economic life of Australia.

Please think of the need for students to be able to live nearer and travel with ease to their institutions as well.

Please save my art school, faculty, studio-based practice, and facilities. I'm a PhD candidate at Sydney College of the Arts.

I am a grateful graduate.

There is no other place in NSW like SCA The staff and studio facilities provide the best teaching, training and learning so what value in closing it??

A University that aspires to greatness invests in its people, resources and students. A great University should have a great Fine Arts department. Education and creativity are not all about economic rationalism.

Does anyone, apart from University of Sydney management, think this 'merger' is a good idea? SCA has proved its worth over decades in an increasingly difficult, even hostile, environment. Imagine what could happen if it were celebrated and supported by its 'parent' institution. Let SCA thrive.

Please let SCA stay.

A WORLD CLASS INSTITUTION

Sydney needs diversity in art education. SCA is a unique educational facility. It must not be closed down.

Have we really become a country governed by moronic philistines, stumbling around a dark landscape, sniffing the air for money. Shame, shame, shame, Baird.

Having undertaken my undergraduate studies at UNSWAD and recently completing my MFA at SCA, I can attest to the strength in the diversity that comes from these very different pedagogical models. Collapsing SCA into UNSWAD will collapse opportunity, vitality and vibrancy from the arts in Sydney, NSW and indeed Australia as a whole.

I chose to undertake my PhD at SCA due to its excellent reputation and high esteem it is held in. I have to date had exhibitions at many major national and international institutions such as the MCA, GOMA, ISCP in New York and soon to show at the NGV. I could have chosen anywhere in the world and I chose SCA.

Art is a critically important part of our culture. I am dumbfounded to think that in the 21st century you are closing art schools and dragging our society backwards.

I have a PhD from SCA. SCA was the only art school I wanted to go. I could have gone anywhere on the East Coast. I had BA and an MA in other fields but Art was where I wanted to tie it all together because it is the one place where I could bring mind, meaning and making together in a rigorous and supportive environment. I searched far and wide for a supervisor - I only found one who would fit - Dr Lindy Lee. What a legacy she has left - just start looking. Not only was my supervision an experience exceptional (I know many associates in other uni's who just didn't get the same quality and depth out of their supervisor's relationship). More than that, when I entered SCA I found a culture of collaboration and inquiry that I have not encountered in the 4 other uni's I have been to. ANU was close. I have made life long colleagues and we fortify each other in our commitment to improve upon the world through a language that is art, research and meaningful connections. Please don't close SCA - the loss will leave a permanent void.

I attended both UNSW and SCA art schools and attest that the approach to art education in the 80's was far superior at Sydney College of the Arts. We need the diversity of art education approaches in NSW. SCA encouraged a high level of critical thinking.

Despite neglect by its "parent" University, the Sydney College of the Arts IS excellent, and will continue to be! Transparent, independent enquiry must be conducted. Sydney already HAS 3 art schools that are indeed excellent, unique and diverse. Stop this chokehold on the arts!

Let Sydney College of the Arts Stay

Attempts to trash Sydney's art schools will reflect badly on the actors responsible and their careers and the reputations of their affiliated organisations.

I would add that there should be business as usual at SCA until the review is completed. The BVA must be restored to the 2017 offerings for new students, so it can "trade" its way to an even better position, not continue to be attacked and weakened by USyd.