| Professor Amanda Lawson . . . outlines new directions for Faculty of... Professor Amanda Lawson . . . outlines new directions for Faculty of Creative Arts that she now heads |
The Faculty of Creative Arts welcomes a new Dean
Professor Amanda Lawson, who previously headed the School of Art & Design within the Faculty, was appointed Dean in June 2008. She brings with her a wealth of experience and expertise in the creative industries and the arts.
New Dean's optimism for arts' future in Australia
26/08/2008: Bernie Goldie, Manager Media Unit
The arts in Australia will grow as the population ages, the recently-appointed Dean of Creative Arts at UOW Professor Amanda Lawson has predicted as she prepares to revitalise the faculty she now leads.
"More and more we will see the arts being recognised as an essential part of a healthy society.
"They will be seen as a vital place for thinking about and experiencing social change, engaging with big picture issues as well as central to the texture of our everyday lives," Professor Lawson said.
And she envisages that Australian Indigenous cultures will be increasingly recognised for the unique resources that they are - and as a model of integration of the arts, in their broadest senses, into society.
"As Australia's population ages we will see the arts grow and participation will broaden alongside the professional structures that have been established over the past 40 years.
"We'll see new disciplines and practices emerging, growth in the use of new technologies for audiences and producers, links with therapeutic practices, regional developments and engagement with the environment," Professor Lawson said.
Among directions the new dean plans to take the faculty are:
• To gain national recognition for the quality of UOW Creative Arts staff and their creative research and for their unique cluster of creative programs
• To revitalise, promote and internationalise postgraduate research degrees as the faculty has been instigators and leaders in the creative research higher degree for more than 20 years
• To build on the successes of its thriving undergraduate Journalism program with a new approach to postgraduate studies in this field
• To develop interdisciplinary partnerships with researchers across UOW -- including the humanities, computing, engineering, science and health
• To create distinctive undergraduate programs that integrate its expertise in new technologies and its growing partnerships within the creative industries so as to benefit students. For example, an innovative new degree in the fields of digital media, animation and screen production, in partnership with TAFE Illawarra will be launched in 2010, located at a state-of-the-art building on the Innovation Campus
Professor Lawson said the faculty's ever-expanding links in the community would continue as they provide all kinds of enriching and entertaining experiences for the Illawarra and the UOW community -- from performances to exhibitions to concerts to writing events.
She was appointed professor and head of the School of Art and Design at UOW in 2004. She has more than 20 years' experience in the arts in Australia and during that time has been director of various arts organisations -- the Meat Market Craft Centre in Melbourne, the Crafts Council of NSW and from 1998-2004 Bathurst Regional Art Gallery.
Professor Lawson has also worked at the Australian Council for the Arts, with NSW State and Regional Development and AusIndustry and as an independent arts consultant. At UOW she teaches in the areas of curatorial practice and art history and theory.
She gained a BA from the University of Edinburgh and a first class honours degree in Arts at the University of Wollongong before completing a PhD in Australian Literature at the University of Sydney in 2002.
Her current research projects include an Australian Research Council Linkage Project with Museums and Galleries NSW and Object: Australian Centre for Craft and Design exploring exhibition interpretation and audience development in contemporary art and craft.
She is also leading a collaborative project with colleagues from the Faculties of Creative Arts and Informatics, trialling new approaches to collections documentation and access in partnership with the Australian Museum and is a member of the Social Innovations Network at UOW. She has held many industry and board appointments and is currently Chair of Arts NSW Visual Arts/Craft Committee and a board member of Wollongong City Gallery.
Some long-time UOW staff may recall that Professor Lawson was also Manager of Planning and Marketing at the University in 1989/90.
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