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The student newspaper of the
Sydney Conservatorium

virtuosity in diversity

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Writer's pictureCharlotte Fetherston

ANU Continued

In the last Conversation, I wrote about the planned changes to the ANU School of Music, the most drastic of which were the removal of one-on-one lessons and harmony lectures, along with many staff redundancies. These were apparently made up for by tutelage via video link from major American institutions (namely the Manhattan School of Music). The reason cited in the press was that the ANU was in deficit by $2.7 million annually, and the cuts would allow the university to absolve around $1.3 million of that debt. 


In my article, I cited influential director Ernest Llewellyn, who always ensured that he had high-level staff and maintained strong focus on the training of individuals in performance. Alongside this, he also developed the Canberra-based National Symphony Orchestra (established in 1950) and used the music school as a feeding-pool into the orchestra. The removal of vital aspects to this music school (teachers and lessons) seemed to be taking the institution, and also more widely Canberra’s music scene, down a path of destruction. 


Since our last print, many things have happened. On May 13, the students of ANU began a 24-hour ‘Protest Jam’, which was a marathon musical concert, streamed live. This was followed by a march through the University. Soon after, it emerged that the School of Music Foundation Board had not been informed about the cuts before they were announced, which had caused them great concern. Apparently, last time the music school was in financial trouble, the board was informed and the Foundation helped to fix the problem. A former chairman, Chris Peters, who is the ACT Chamber of Commerce chief executive, resigned from the board upon hearing the changes, and suggested that the University of Canberra take over from ANU. 


Soon after that, Arts Minister Joy Burch met with the ANU to discuss the funding it currently gives the School of Music and Canberra Symphony Orchestra (CSO), and how that will need to be addressed. Currently, there is funding for outreach ventures and so forth, which may not be possible if other opportunities are closed. 


On May 15, ABC published an article stating that the ANU had backed away from plans to cut 32 staff positions at the school, and “instead agreed to union demands to use traditional redundancy provisions.” This basically means that ANU changed the wording of their proposal slightly, but that job losses themselves are still certainly happening. 


On May 18, the ACT Chamber of Commerce offered to throw the ANU a lifeline to help secure the school’s financial future through long-term fundraising and an application for higher government funding for the CSO. This was viewed through an ABC video link from an ACT news story, but I have struggled to find any more evidence of this being assured: on May 25, the ANY Council went ahead with their overhaul discussion meeting, despite such strong community protest. 


And, as seen on May 28, the Manhattan School of Music’s Vice President for Academics and Performance, Marjorie Merryman, wrote a letter addressed to her colleagues informing them that the ANU’s use of the MSM name was not allowed, agreed upon or perhaps even discussed: the MSM does not support these measures at all. Merryman also wrote to Ian Young, saying:


  1. We have had no knowledge of any restructuring at ANU; it was never discussed with us. 

  2. We do not agree with their idea as an educational model; we support one-on-one live studio teaching. 

  3. Educationally and philosophically, we could not endorse ANU’s new model for college-level music study. 

  4. We have no arrangement with ANU to provide the services they describe. 

  5. We strongly object to being associated with a plan that would eliminate faculty positions. 

  6. We strongly object to our name being used or to any implication that we endorse this restructuring. 


Apparently Ian Young assured Merryman and the MSM that their name had not been used: but one simply needs to listen to the press conference to discover that is not true. 


Well, this is the update on the progress in the last two weeks. It does not provide any sort of conclusions to us. It almost seems like the problem is becoming more tangled and confusing. Can the ANU survive this?


References

All ABC articles and media from:


MSM letter by Merryman from:


This magazine was originally published in Conversation Issue 5, of 4 June 2012, published by the Conservatorium Students' Association. The print edition can be found on Issuu; it has been digitised by Alexander Poirier. 

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