24 July 2025
Statement №
250001
Australian Music Students' Association
Statement on the Organisational Change Proposal for the College of Arts and Social Sciences at the Australian National University
In what can only be described as an appalling proposal that is entirely offensive to all musicians around the country, and to the very craft of music itself, the management of the Australian National University has decided it best to shut down its School of Music — an institution older than the University itself, and a move that will effectively sterilise Canberra’s musical scene — as part of other frankly absurd changes to generalise, merge, and cut every area of the Colleges of Arts and Social Sciences.
The Australian Music Students’ Association outright rejects this insulting proposal and all its parts, and expresses our sincere disappointment that ‘modernisation’, ‘alignment of research’, and ‘longevity’ has been used as a guise to cover up the continued failures of leadership, and financial and governance mismanagement that has plagued the ANU for over a decade. The Association also calls out this stunningly hyperbolic leadership, ignoring academic research into music pedagogy to make decisions that move away from any traditional understanding of a University through its financial cutting, all whilst ignoring the superfluous executive trips, exorbitant senior salaries, and ridiculous consultancy fees.
The solution proposed is cost-cutting of the very institutions and people that make the University renowned around the world – their high-status something somehow both acknowledged yet ignored by the proposal itself. These cuts are misguided and won’t fix the root of the University’s problems; it will instead further see its global status downgraded, the student experience deteriorated, and the livelihoods of staff ruined.
It will not be an easy task to solve the University’s most-pressing problems, but it is certain that destruction of the University’s institutions and teaching is not the way. One must ask what is the purpose of cost-savings if the very notion and goals of the University are abandoned?
In summary, the changes detailed in the Organisational Change Proposal of 3 July 2025 — part of the University’s Renew ANU plan — seek to merge the School of Music (SoM), the School of Art and Design (SoAD), and the Centre for Heritage and Museum Studies, into a generic “School of Creative and Cultural Practices”. Music would become a mere programme within this new school, Foundation Studies and the Environment Studio for the Arts and Design would both be disestablished. Various other changes include a merger of sociology, demography, and criminology, unnecessary renaming of history and philosophy schools, political degrees merged, and social research centres disestablished.
As part of these changes across the College, 43 academic staff and 20 administrative staff would see their positions disestablished, replaced by 2 new academic and 4 administrative positions. In the SoM and the SoAD, which see 7 and 4 academic positions disestablished respectively, those who would lose their jobs include the lecturers in piano, jazz, composition, foundation studies, and the environment studio, alongside other lecturers and research fellows.
In all of these changes, one can only be reminded of the significant public controversy in 2012 around unrealised proposals to significantly change the SoM, for the same reasons of cost-savings and ‘modernisation’ to the syllabus. This is only compounded upon by the fact that the 2012 Head of the SoM Adrian Walter, despite moving to Hong Kong and then retiring, has returned to the ANU in the same role, to once again oversee similarly controversial changes.
Whilst the University swears those currently completing their degrees would not be impacted as they would be grandfathered to the changes, it is difficult to comprehend how they would still receive the same quality and opportunities of education if the staff that taught those degrees are no longer employed. If all of the lecturer positions in music performance are disestablished, one must question who precisely will have the expertise to see through the studies of those enrolled in a Bachelor of Music? Already, significant numbers of students at the ANU have started looking to transfer to the conservatoria of Sydney and Melbourne because of fears they won’t be able to complete their degree as promised.
The musical scene and culture of Canberra centres around the ANU SoM, with many of the city’s musicians having direct association either as staff, students, or alumni. The Llewellyn Hall is the city’s concert hall, and hosts an array of national and international tours, alongside many local professional and amateur ensembles. In a city with limited musical opportunities and experiences, this proposal would devastate the culture that remains.
With the removal of the city’s musical hub, what will keep musicians in the city? The announcement of these proposed changes has already resulted in a crisis of ‘music refugees’ to Sydney and Melbourne, students afraid they won’t receive the necessary musical training for their goals. Why would future students, those just starting their music careers, be drawn to study music at the ANU or to stay in the city where they grew up? Staff, all of whom are incredibly talented and accomplished, all will see their careers destroyed, and many will have to uproot their families and life to find work elsewhere.
The changes proposed, whilst reasoned with claims they are following regular reviews and the new directions of education and research, are clearly measures to save costs from that which the leadership finds little value; in reality, their reasoning entirely goes against the very recommendations and literature they profess to endorse.
For example, in 2023 the ANU commissioned a Review of the School of Music, chaired by Anna Reid, Dean of the Sydney Conservatorium. Their key recommendations included ensuring sustainability for the equally-important performance and research, creating clearer governance for staff, reducing reliance on casual and fixed-term appointments, and better integration within the University’s research mission through their creative outputs. There was emphasis on the necessity of understanding and fostering Non-Traditional Research (NTR), the type of research produced by music schools through performance and composition, rather than typical academia through reviews of literature and experiments.
All of these recommendations have seemingly been ignored. Instead, there is consistent emphasis on achieving specific outcomes of research and teaching output, something detached from the relevance and role of the arts in society — they are not practised to achieve specific goals but are there to tell our stories and bring people together.
Removal of private specialised tuition in exchange for generalised group classes would mean future music graduates from the ANU are at an inherent severe disadvantage to practise music and join ensembles, compared to graduates from other music schools — something which goes directly against the University’s goal to see increased employability for its alumni.
This proposal also shows a deep lack of understanding of the role of education in music; the way music is learned and taught is not merely an additional component to creating music, but is an integral part of it. Looking to the research of Christopher Small and Thomas Turino around musicking and the social aspects of music participation, when teaching musics of any culture it’s important to bring their traditions of learning along as well (whether it be apprentice-master or in groups, documented or informal), something clearly not understood nor considered by the ANU‘s leadership.
These ideas are shared amongst music educators and researchers all around Australia, and it’s very clear to them what these proposals are doing. “To suggest that one can continue to authentically teach and learn musics while discarding wholesale their pedagogies is nonsense,” was the response by Associate Professor of Music Education James Humberstone of the Sydney Conservatorium when asked of the proposal, “abandoning a model to save money ought to be recognised as such, and if an institution wants to provide first rate musical education, pedagogy and musics need to be sensitively, carefully, and consistently aligned.”
To this end, it is bizarre for the University to assert a new focus on contemporary and popular musics and production, whilst having nearly no repute in the area nor facilities for the required teaching — especially when other music schools in Australia have the academics and superior facilities and resources. Whilst a more financially profitable genre, with the broadest appeal and easiest commerciality, the application of its teaching models upon other genres is simply irrelevant to them. Despite being distinct, this proposal is similar to the strategies by the government to give preference to contemporary musics in their arts strategies, as music is viewed as a commodity that can be bought and sold.
It is a common strategy for universities all around the country, the moment there are financial pressures, to demolish the fine arts and the humanities in order to save costs. This might seem a simple solution, given the frequently larger labor and financial requirements associated with private tuition and ensemble rehearsals, but results in diminished training and excellence in a student's artform. How many of these degrees must be sacrificed before the corporate university is satiated?
Call to Action
We call for the management of the Australian National University to suspend this Change Proposal in its entirety, to hear from the many members of its community and around the nation who are in opposition to these changes, and to look for financial savings within consultancy and senior leadership, before making decisions that ruin the lives of the people that make the University they lead. We aim this particularly towards Vice-Chancellor Distinguished Professor Genevieve Bell, Dean of the College of Arts and Social Sciences Professor Bronwyn Parry, Director of the Research School of Humanities and the Arts Kate Mitchell.
We also call for intervention from the Federal Ministers of Education and the Arts, Jason Clare and Tony Burke, to ensure the continuation of music education at the nation’s university, and to prevent the demolition of music and culture in Canberra more broadly.
We encourage all Australian musicians and artists, current students, alumni, and staff of the ANU, those who appreciate art, and all other members of the community, to join our campaign to call the management of the ANU to revoke the Change Proposal for the College of Arts and Social Sciences, submit feedback to the ANU, and to share amongst your communities.
Any and all are encouraged to sign their name onto this statement to show support of our sentiments and to express their solidarity with the artists, students, and academics of the ANU.
Media
For media enquiries, please contact President of the Australian Music Students' Association, Alexander Poirier, at secretary@usydcsa.org.
Signatories
Principal signatories
Alexander Poirier, President of the Australian Music Students’ Association
Jojo Yuen, President of the Australian National University School of Music Collective
Ashlyn Horton, President of the National Union of Students
Will Burfoot, President of the Australian National University Students’ Association
Additional signatories
If you would like to sign onto this statement, please fill out this form:
https://forms.gle/yT9x9BggDd4veLXK7
Additional signatories will be added as they are submitted. (updated 11 August 2025)
Chith Weliamuna — CASS Representative in the ANU Students' Association — Australian National University student — amateur saxophonist and pianist
Cassidy Newman — Education Officer of the Sydney Conservatorium Students' Association and Intercampus Officer of the University of Sydney SRC — Sydney Conservatorium of Music student
Emily Judge — TAFE student
Benjamin Oliver — Sydney Conservatorium of Music student — music theatre performer
Oscar Favelle — University of Technology Sydney student — amateur musician
Mert Boyali — ANU School of Music student — freelance local film composer, and jazz guitarist: "The School of Music has been a home to so many incredible musicians throughout generations of players and composers. We’re about to give up our cultural music hub and force our musicians interstate. And for what, no reason."
Ben Rankin — ANU School of Music student — jazz and contemporary performer, metal drummer, singer/songwriter: "I have dedicated my whole life to become the musician that I am today, and studying at the ANU School of Music has contributed to this. Studying at the School of Music has been a dream of mine for years. I have met like-minded people who have turned into some of my closest friends and my abilities as a musician has improved exponentially since starting my tertiary studies."
Ella Craig — ANU School of Music student — singer, songwriter: "If this proposal goes ahead, I’ll be faced with an impossible choice: either uproot my life and transfer universities just to continue studying music—sacrificing my double degree with commerce, since no other institution offers this combination—or abandon my passion altogether and commit to a financially safer but personally unfulfilling path in commerce. Either outcome would drastically alter the trajectory of my life and compromise everything I’ve worked toward."
Grace McElholum — Australian National University student — amateur musical theatre performer
Grace Street — General-Secretary of the University of Sydney SRC — University of Sydney student
Sil Jin — Sydney Conservatorium of Music (2011) and Melbourne Conservatorium of Music (2015) — Registered Music Therapist
Alex Priest — Flinders University (2021)
Julie Mar — Sydney Conservatorium of Music student — Classroom music teacher
Freya Stewart — Penrith Selective High School student — music student
Divya Nandyal — Treasurer and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity Officer of the NSW University Theatrical Society — University of New South Wales student — Carnatic singer and violinist
Antonio Aguilar — Musician in the Sydney Concert Orchestra — Sydney Conservatorium of Music student — cellist
Jasmine Delaney — Australian National University student — occasional chorister, avid music listener
Pippa Newman — Australian National University (2025) — violist: "I benefitted greatly from the orchestral and ensemble programs at the ANU School of Music throughout my time at ANU, and it bolstered my music career now playing in the Ellery String Quartet and with the Canberra Symphony. The staff and students at SoM have made an incredible impact on my life, and the SoM is a vital part of the cultural life of Canberra with so many musicians having strong connections there."
Theresa Xiao — President of the Sydney Conservatorium Students' Association — Sydney Conservatorium of Music student — classical pianist and piano teacher: "I had the privilege to attend a masterclass held by the Friends of Chopin Australia at the ANU, within its School of Music’s campus, and was extremely fortunate to learn with Ewa Poblocka, who was a previous prize winner and one of the current adjudicators of the prestigious Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. Without the School of Music’s facilities and support, I would not have had the possibility of that experience at all. I also personally know many incredibly talented classmates who studied at the ANU School of Music, and are some of the most creative, hardworking, and diligent musicians I know. It is such an unbelievable shame on the ANU to remove its music school, and with it: a future generation of brilliant Australian musicians, that could have had an immense impact on Australian and global music scene. The arts are not some expendable accessory, they are the proof and everlasting tradition of any well developed civilisation throughout history: a voice of humanity’s reactions and expressions towards life; and have, and will continue, to shift the minds, thoughts, and actions of entire nations. We live, thrive, and depend on the arts everyday, and yet those who study it are seen as frivolous, unnecessary, and to be the future ‘unemployed’. The greed for capitalist drive and profit, combined with a national lack of recognition within the arts and music industry has led to this shameful decision. This will not be a standalone incident, and watching this on the sidelines will not save you — a musician, a music student, lecturer, or an ordinary citizen who enjoys listening to music — from being affected by this decision. If a major education institution of Australia has the ability to remove an entire school from its teaching facilities, so can the others. Keep your eyes open, and never stop advocating."
Harry Alexiadis — President of the Sydney Conservatorium Society of Composers — Sydney Conservatorium of Music (2023) and University of Sydney postgraduate student — musician and research student: "We need the arts, don’t cut them."
Max McClelland — Sydney Conservatorium of Music student — composer, percussionist
Saxon McDonald — University of Adelaide mechnical engineering student — long-term band clarinettist and saxophonist
Joel Dreezer — ANU School of Music student — PhD candidate, jazz and classicial wind performer, composer, and educator: "I have been at the School of Music since 2012 as part of their pre-tertiary program, then in the now-defunct H course. I then completed my Bachelor of Music with honours in 2022. I am currently in the second year of my PhD candidature. So I have been at the ANU for half my life and planned to continue as a lecturer until these cuts were announced. I have loved every moment here and wanted to give back to this community that has given me and so many others so much. These cuts will impact the arts scene in Canberra in unimaginable ways, as almost all live performances from bars, clubs and stages have some connection to the School of Music."
Samuel Roberts — ANU School of Music performance student
Enola Murphy — ANU School of Music (2024) — freelance cellist: "The lack of understanding that the ANU decision makers have for the Bachelor of Music degree and how it should work is absolutely shameful! I fully support this statement and want to further highlight that the removal of 1-1 lessons in particular along with the removal of important lecturing roles and basic courses without a doubt effectively removes the ability to get the degree of Bachelor of Music from ANU. If this goes ahead it will cause irreparable damage to both ANU’s reputation along with the culture of the arts both in the capital city along with around the country as well as by setting a horrific precedent for other universities in Australia."
Issie Brown — Queensland Conservatorium Griffith University (2021) — classical flautists
Stephanie McAlister — University of Newcastle Conservatorium (1998) — freelance professional singer, arts leader: "We worked closely with SOM through the establishment of Canberra's current professional opera company, laising with Head of School and vocal and instrumental specialists. They were all supportive of the development of the Company and offered resources to support. This impact was significant for a new nfp Arts company. In return the company exposed SOM students to experiences they were not getting at the university."
Franceska N — Member of the Ginninderra Wind Orchestra — University of Canberra (2004) — high-school music teacher: "I grew up playing music in Canberra, l learnt the clarinet from teachers that learnt at School of Music. I learnt from amazing world class musicians that taught at the School of Music. It is because of the learning opportunities the SCHOOL of MUSIC gave me as community musician, student and high school music teacher, I would not be the musician and educator that I am today. If wasn’t for the opportunities that I was given being a cross institutional student both studying at the University of Canberra and the School of Music then my music education would not have helped develop me as a teacher I am today. I am saddened to see that the next generation of musician that I teach and put out into the world will never get the same experiences that I received as a music student here in Canberra. Music is the heart and soul of a community and to strip that away is tantamount to a death sentence."
Kirsten Knight — ANU School of Music (2000) — Director of Strings and Head of Co-Curricular Music at a Pre-K-Year 12 school: "I studied at the ANU School of Music and now my son is studying there (although he will move university if the changes go through). A great number of the staff in my music department at a Canberra school are graduates at the ANU SoM. The proposed changes will have a dire impact on music life in Canberra, affecting organisations like the Canberra Symphony Orchestra by making it difficult to find local professional players, as well as all music education institutions including music programs on schools as it will become harder to find suitable staff. The last time the ANU messed with the SoM my school suffered as we very quickly felt the impact of fewer young musicians in the region. The proposed changes would be even more impactful."
Nathan Sciberras — ANU School of Music alum — musician and event manager
Markus Wilkinson — Canberra Institute of Technology - Contemporary Music (2003) — producer, remixer
Jack Oates Pryor — President of the Tasmanian University Students' Association — University of Tasmania law, and drama and German student — amateur musician
Angela Vivian-Bolt — University of Sydney (1988) — amateur singer & instrumentalist: "Singing in the Canberra School of Music in its first year, rehearsing with band there through the 1980s, and attending hundreds of concerts throughout its life, even after the dreadful ANU management (mismanagement) of it have been a huge part of my life. It is one of the important institutions in our capital city and should return to independence and excellence which the ANU seems not to be able to manage, nor even imagine. Bring back some actual musical understanding to the management of our School of Music, Please!"
K Wilkinson — ANU School of Music (1996) — professional cellist and cello teacher: "I received world-class teaching from the cellist Lois Simpson, whose past students are in universities and orchestras in Australia and overseas. I was only able to reach professional standard by having individual lessons with an expert teacher at ANU. I am now actively giving back to the community that nurtured me, through teaching 55 cello students a week - at Canberra schools - and giving concerts. Please recognise the fundamental importance of the arts as part of a civilised society by supporting our musicians at the ANU School of Music."
Caleb Campbell — ANU School of Music (2022) — music educator and pianist
Sonia Anfiloff — Artistic Director of the National Opera in Canberra — Australian National University School of Music, BMus MMus (2010) — singer, artistic director, former voice lecturer and examiner at ANU SoM
Jesse Hill — ANU School of Music alum, ANU current student — freelance brass musician and composer, staff member in the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences
Mic Knight — ANU School of Music student — professional jazz pianist/keyboardist and composer
Leo Amadeus — was going to study at SOM in 2026 — Perform Australia (2024) — actor, writer, musician, comedian
Edward Reid — Life Member of Friends of the School of Music — University of Canberra (2002) — appreciative audience member: "ANU's School of Music has been an inspiration to the Canberra community since it's inception."
Christine Thompson — music educator
Leon Le Leu — University of Adelaide alum and University of Sydney alum — amateur pianist, retired doctor: "I feel my life is enriched by having such a distinguished music school close to where I live and hearing performances by musicians from that school. I am appalled by the contrast between the enormous sums spent in Australia on sport, sport training and sporting venues compared with that spent on muscial training and professional venues."
David Franks — University of NSW (1966 &1967) and NSW State Conservatorium of Music organ alum — semi-professional organist: "Music graduates are playing a vital role in music ensembles whose concerts I attend."
Susan Forner — mother of a son currently studying Bachelor of Music at ANU: "My son grew up in a regional area, to a migrant farming family. He loved piano from the age of six, when he started playing. He went to NSW government primary and high schools and had a really great musical education, thanks to dedicated music teachers. He won local community prizes and participated in performances at the Sydney Opera House, The Vatican in Rome and throughout Europe. He signed up for the Bachelor of Music with the belief that he would get a superior tertiary musical education from a reputable School of Music at ANU. Sadly, it seems this is not the case.Cost cutting music and arts is easy. But a life without music and the Arts is not a life."
Rosanne Jones — Wesley Institute for Ministry and the Arts - Music (2007) — high-school music teacher, and various bands
Erin Pynor — Australian National University alum — choir convenor
Rhys Thomas — Newcastle Conservatorium of Music (2007) — teacher and conductor
Andrea Higgins — RMIT University (2012)
Nigel Leach — Member of the Australasian Piano Tuners and Technicians Association — ANU School of Music (2002) — piano technician: "The time at SoM as a piano performance student in tertiary institution was instrumental in my professional pathway, leading to where I am today."
Jennifer Rowland — Accredited Life Member of the Friends of the ANU School of Music — ANU (1984) and Macquarie University (1974) — amateur pianist; former convenor of recital series at Canberra City Uniting Church; former president of Klavier Music Association; former non-degree student at ANU School of Music; supporter of and donor to the Australian National Eisteddfod, Canberra Symphony Orchestra and Australian Youth Orchestra: "The ANU School of Music has been an anchor point for many of the musical endeavours and organisations I have been involved with and the wider Canberra region musical community. It has kept up to date with very many musical styles and developments and even been a trend-setter. The School has been subject to closure a number of times. The ANU still has not learnt that it would be poorer without this major resource for teaching future professional musicians, undertaking major research projects and fostering significant parts of Australia's musical life. The ANU's own cultural life would be diminished."
Lachlan Tang — ANU School of Music student — LMUSA pianist, music writer and composer
Vincent Ward — ANU School of Music violin and viola student
Sarah Meixner — Australian National University alum
Melissa Neidorf — Australian National University (2007) — family of musicians & audience members: "An essential part of my family life for 50 years"
Helen Moore AM — Volunteer at the Wesley Music Centre — audience member and community choir member: "The ANU SoM is central to the ecology of music (at least classical and jazz) in Canberra. Its closure will decimate all aspects of music in our community when members and accompanists who are ANU staff and students are gone. It will close off visits from performers from overseas and the rest of Australia. The disregard for the community and the assurances given to the ACT Government in return for millions of dollars of investment in the School over the years is disgraceful arrogance. How dare they trade off the claim that Canberra loves the ANU? That love needs to be earned!"
Meryl Joyce — music lover and concert goer who appreciates the place the School of Music plays in our society and our national capital: "The ANU School of Music is central to my musical experience in Canberra over almost 50 years. I’ve watched students move from the School through to our national orchestras. Our national university must have a national music school.
Margaret Wada — Australian National University (1972) — music lover
Lash Knight — Secretary of the South Canberra Wind Orchestra — flautist, vocalist, and all around music lover: "Though I have only done a few courses through the School of Music with the Community Rock School program, I have seen and heard my friends and fellow musicians love everything that has come through their learning in the ANU School of Music. Through playing in Llewellyn Hall at the National Eisteddfod, to jamming with my fellow music lovers in the Peter Karmel Building, the music bringing us together is important for community. Having solid structures in the city that is the capital of Australia is important for our city as a whole, and music is one that can transcend language, social class, and any other sort of things that can divide humans."
Bianca — Australian National University (2015)
Dr Anni Dugdale — Australian National University postdoctorate (1997-1999) — choir member and community recorder orchestra; regular classical music audience participant
CJ Johnston — Australian National University — appreciator of music and a passionate member of a community choir
Oscar Harding — University of Adelaide — casual trombonist
Feyise Writer — Sydney Conservatorium of Music
John Waters — ANU School of Music
Bailey Stemple — ANU School of Music — classically-trained flautist and piccolo player, teacher
Elijah — ANU School of Music — composer
Joanna Woodburn — ANU School of Music — professional cellist (community gigs and music teaching), music student: ""My learning through the ANU School of Music has played an essential role to my music growth. Through my one-on-one lessons with my private teacher, I have been given support and professional insight that has built my confidence and refined my performance techniques. The ANU School of Music has laid a strong foundation for my future as both a performer and a teacher."
Will Thorpe — University of Sydney — audience member, amateur guitarist for leisure, local culture journalist
Mairead Foley — 2024 Disability Officer for the National Union of Students and former councillor at the Deakin University Students' Association — RMIT University — amateur pianist and member of local orchestra
Nathan Shan — University of Sydney — amateur composer
Samuel Dunnicliff — Sydney Conservatorium of Music — professional vocalist
Sierra Sharman — Sydney Conservatorium of Music — orchestral musician, session musician
Jaehyun Kim — Sydney Conservatorium of Music — musician and sound artist
Caleb Watts — General Executive of the National Union of Students (2023), Former Welfare Officer of the UNSW SRC — University of NSW
David Worner — University of NSW (2000) — community choir member, frequent visitor to Llewellyn Hall and School of Music
Merryn Byrne — University of Melbourne (2025) — choral singer
S Strickland — Australian National University (1987, 2013, 2023) — music appreciator and concert attendee