VCA?

Just wanted to add, in addition to my comments above about 'direction', and reminded by the comments of Kieran: VCA runs (ran) the ONLY puppetry course in the Southern hemisphere. Those who teach it are considered the best in the country in the field, and have brought numerous international puppetry megastars to do sessional teaching. I believe it took some good decades to convince anyone to support such a course; Swinburne, who hold the only other puppetry component in the country, have also likewise been struggling to develop more support for puppetry. Anyone who thinks that convincing a bunch of course administrators to fund and create a new course - in a field not even recognised by most pro actors and techies as existing in this country - is in my book, a bloody hero. That's not the sign of being directionless, that's a sign of having the guts to do something for the potential artists of this country. Furthermore, many of the graduates have gone on to create award winning puppetry shows and further develop the interest in puppetry by the general public; who by and large are completely f*ing ignorant when it comes to puppets as a real and vibrant industry. The fact that Melb Uni is choosing to close it means a lot of hopeful puppeteers are back to scrounging up what little internships they can and learning on their own. Although I would not attend VCA's course myself (I'm tired of assignments now and just want to get on with it), I would support anyone's right to study puppetry to the death. I would like to see which school would 'win' this so-called battle, seeing as how no other university or college in Australia runs a Postgrad/Masters in Puppetry. (Fingers crossed Swinburne can fill the niche in the future, or that VCA/Melb Uni has a change of heart) Puppets and patterns at Puppets in Melbourne