Adapting the studio model for the Australian popular music education context

Australian university graduates of music industry degrees are often faced with challenges stemming from both Australia’s peripheral position in global music economies and the predominance of precarious work environments. This article presents an evaluation of a ‘studio model’ of education adopted by the Bachelor of Arts (Music Industry) degree at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. The studio model approach aims to better prepare graduates for careers in the contemporary music industry via hands-on and tacit learning experiences that ready them for ‘portfolio careers’. The case study evaluated here involved students working with an industry partner to deliver an on-campus music festival called Copresents in 2017. Student feedback indicated overall satisfaction with the studio, and that they were able to develop certain skills that would be valuable to them in a portfolio career, such as improved communication competencies and a better understanding of possible careers in the industry. We also demonstrate that students recognized ways in which the experience was curtailed by institutional and industrial requirements that ran counter to the ideals of studio learning. We note that the effectiveness of the model is limited in some ways by its placement at the intersection of the institutional needs of the university and the requirements of industry, neither of which are entirely in alignment with student needs.