Save Music in Canberra no.2 (2025)

It's 2025 and the School of Music faces another round of changes, could I say cuts, restructures, changed purposes and roles. The SOM would move to a new "School of Creative and Cultural Practice" with interest in "Indigenous music in a contemporary context, and Music and Wellbeing" and with an emphasis on technology and production of contemporary music (essentially quoted from the first CT article linked below). Sounds like the musical interests of the old CIT with the addition of Indigenous music and a concern with research rather than performance.

And it's not just the Music School. They are planning Changes ("destruction") to the Australian National Dictionary and the Australian Dictionary or Biography. "LOST FOR WORDS / Just hours after I penned a protest against the ANU's planned destruction of national institutions such as the Australian Dictionary of Biography, I learned it is also proposing to cut the Australian National Dictionary - if ever there was a truly national program. I am lost for words - as we all will be if this barbaric cost-cutting is allowed to continue. / Prof Peter Stanley, Dickson" CT Letters 17 Jul 25.

Excuse titles if they don't match as Canberra Times (and perhaps others) can use different titles online and in print. Excuse no page numbers as most readers view online and page numbers are usually not provided online or serve much purpose.

Initialisms: CT=Canberra Times; SMH=Sydney Morning Herald; AFR=Australian Financial Review (obviously!); P&I=Pearls & Irritations (johnmenadue.com); RC=RegionCanberra (region.com.au)

Background from Wikipedia

Email Eric with any links >

Save Music in Canberra no.1 (2012)

The ANU School of Music is under threat. Join the campaign to save high level music teaching and, with it, the heart of skilled music in Canberra (May 2012)

They tell us the School of Music will continue, but no jazz school and it seems limited elite musical training. We'll see. Here below are various articles, etc, on what happened to ~Sept 2012. For any further news, videos, etc, see Save the ANU School of Music. I expect the worst, but maybe that's just me. What a 100th birthday present for Canberra!

Writing in September 2015, I can only say what a sorry mess!

Jan 2019 and we lose another Head of School