Could every university student benefit from a creative arts elective?
More than 'just a bit of fun', evidence suggests creative arts electives for any undergraduate student – regardless of discipline – have powerful benefits for their future careers.
Contrary to stereotypes of art-making as free time to play, university students who enrol in creative arts electives take these units seriously. Photo: Eugen Achenbrenner, Unsplash.
As tertiary arts departments across the country come alive with students back after the summer break, in some universities at least, it won’t only be visual arts, theatre and music students filling up the buildings.
In a steady trend started a little over a decade ago, some Australian universities have been making concerted efforts to welcome non-arts undergraduates into specially designed creative arts units and, in recent years, those efforts have been paying off in a big way.
ArtsHub's Arts Feature Writer Jo Pickup is based in Perth. An arts writer and manager, she has worked as a journalist and broadcaster for media such as the ABC, RTRFM and The West Australian newspaper, contributing media content and commentary on art, culture and design. She has also worked for arts organisations such as Fremantle Arts Centre, STRUT dance, and the Aboriginal Arts Centre Hub of WA, as well as being a sessional arts lecturer at The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA).
