Australia

Brittani Lince
=Australia =



=Overview =

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Australia is located in the southeastern hemisphere of the world. Located between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, it is the largest island in the world. Due to Australia's geographical location, its seasons are opposite of the United States, with summer occurring from December to February and winter occurring from June to August. Australia is the smallest and one of the driest continents on the planet. As a result of all of these conditions, more than 80% of Australia's plants, mammals, reptiles, and frogs are unique to this country. Australia is also the home of the world famous Great Barrier Reef, which spans across over 900 islands. =====

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Australia's unique conditions make it an ideal place for the arts. In fact, people go to galleries and performing arts two times more than they go to football games. Art in Australia stretches back at least 50,000 years to the ancient works of the Aboriginals. The Aboriginals made stone art which can be viewed at World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park. Today Australia is a very diverse place. Over the past 200 years, people have been moving to Australia from over 200 countries. Their society is very multicultural as a result and this fact is reflected in their use of the arts. Having such a array of individuals creates the opportunity for the arts to flourish. Australia has many art galleries such as the Gallery of Modern Art Brisbane, the Art Gallery of NSW, and Queensland Art Gallery. In additon, they also have many other cultural attractions including the famous Sydney Opera House, Powerhouse Museum, and the Queensland Cultural Centre. =====

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Currently in public schools in Australia, the arts are recognized as being important for developing greater involvement in school. However, they do follow behind English, mathematics, science, and history in importance. According to the Australian Curriculum, all students are exposed to five art subjects: dance, drama, media arts, music, and visual arts. =====

=Accomplished Artist =



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Hugh Jackman is a famous actor in the United States. He was born on October 12, 1968 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He received a B.A. degree in Communications and Journalism at Sydney's University of Technology. He graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts in Perth in 1994. Before he became well-known in the United States, he performed in various productions in Australia. His first performance was in 1995 when he starred in //Correlli//, a popular Australian prison drama. He worked in other television series and stage productions before making his first film debut in 1999 for the Australian production //Erskinville Kings//. He is best known in the United States for his performance as Wolverine in the X-Men movies. Other films he has starred in include //Swordfish// (2001), //Van Helsing// (2004), //The Prestige// (2006), and //Real Steel// (2010). Hugh Jackman once said, "Acting is something I love. It's a great craft that I have a lot of respect for. But I don't think it's any greater challenge than teaching 8-year-olds or any other career. In my life, I try not to make it more important than it is and I just hope that rubs off on the people around me." =====

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=Arts Organization =

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SCRAYP-Youth Arts with an Edge is a theatre program created in 1996 that focuses on "at-risk" youth. Their mission is to "represent and interpret young people's worlds through performance art, enabling individual empowerment, active community engagement, and the potential for substantial social change." They operate mainly in the Western Suburbs of Melbourne and make partnerships with the disadvantaged schools there. Creative Teams are made up of professional artists who conduct workshops with up to 50 young people. The participants are encouraged to work on projects that are meaningful to them. The finished works are performed to their peers, friends, family, and members of the community. Over the years, SCRAYP has worked with over 1,200 student participants and their performances have gathered a total of over 9,890 audience members. Studies conducted by the University of Melbourne and the Australia Council for Educational Research (ACER) have shown that the SCRAYP program benefits "young people's individual well-being, learning, and engagement in school." =====

=School Arts Program =

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As stated before, Australia does view the arts as being an important part of education. The Australian Curriculum lists dance, drama, media arts, music, and visual arts as being incorporated in the K-12 curriculum. Students will learn all of these subjects from Foundation (day care, preschool, kindergarten) to the end of primary school. From the first year of secondary school to the end year, students can choose to continue to take classes in the arts and include them in their overall curriculum. The law does require that the schools create a plan to include the arts in the curriculum. There must be 120 hours of the arts spread across F-Year 2; 100 hours across Years 3-4; 100 hours across Years 5-6; 160 hours across Years 7-8 and 160 hours across Years 9-10. However, the schools are left to decide how this time should be allotted. Students from Years 11-12 are not required to take a certain amount of hours in the arts. The Australian Curriculum also addresses some cross-cultural priorities that must be taught alongside the arts. These priorities are: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia, and Sustainability (addresses the interrelated nature of social, economic, and ecological systems). All of these topics are applied with the arts. Australia's diverse culture and the modern research on arts education both contribute to the importance of the arts in the Australian school systems. =====



=Conclusion =

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While examining the arts in Australian education, I saw many similarities with the United States. Both countries value the arts and include them in the national curriculum. However, it does seem like Australia values the arts more than the United States does. In the U.S., if a school is short on funds, the art programs are the first ones to be cut. Throughout K-12 education, Australian students have the opportunity to learn dance, drama, media arts, music, and visual arts. In my schools, we never had classes for dance or drama and the only thing that could slightly be considered media arts would be a computer class. I was surprised that The Australian Curriculum didn't have clear guidelines for the arts inclusion in education. Since the arts are very important to their culture, I thought there would be a few more rules in place. But even so, it seems like Australian students are receiving an education that is very rich and diverse in the arts. =====

=Sources =
 * <span class="wiki_link_ext">[|About Australia]
 * [|Australian Curriculum]
 * [|Great Barrier Reef Facts]
 * [|Hugh Jackman Biography]
 * [|SCRAYP]