The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) at

Edith Cowan University Edith Cowan University (ECU) is a public university in Western Australia. It is named in honour of the first woman to be elected to an Australian parliament, Edith Cowan, and is the only Australian university named after a woman. Gaining univers ...

(ECU) was established in 1980 to provide performing arts tuition. WAAPA (commonly pronounced "whopp-a") operates as a part of ECU, located at the ECU campus in

Mount Lawley Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

, a suburb in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Western Australia. Professor David Shirley is the Executive Dean of the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA), at Edith Cowan University. Previously, holding posts as the Director of the Manchester School of Theatre and the Head of the School of Theatre at Rose Bruford College in Kent.

Courses

WAAPA provides courses in many fields of performing arts including acting, music theatre, directing, dance, jazz and contemporary music, classical music, performance making, arts management, production, and design. Broadcasting is now taught in the School of Communications and Arts of ECU. Originally an initiative of the state government, the Academy receives funding from both the State and Commonwealth governments.

Performance season

A further primary purpose of the academy is to stage concerts and performances, laying the path for students' transition to professional life. Every year WAAPA stages hundreds of concerts and performances across the genres of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major f ...

, contemporary and classical music, composition and music technology,

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

acting Acting is an activity in which a story is told by means of its enactment by an actor or actress who adopts a character—in theatre, television, film, radio, or any other medium that makes use of the mimetic mode. Acting involves a broad ra ...

, and musical theatre.

Venues and facilities

The WAAPA buildings and facilities form part of the

campus in

, a suburb in

, Western Australia. The academy currently has eight public performance spaces. These include the Geoff Gibbs Theatre (a 270-seat proscenium arch theatre), the Roundhouse Theatre (a 130-seat court style theatre), the 165-seat Music Auditorium, an outdoor amphitheatre, Enright Studio, Dance Studios, and Jazz Studio. Four more purpose built dance/rehearsal studio spaces were created: A recording studio, electronics studio, and four production workshops for design and costume making were also added to the existing workshops and behind the scenes production facilities. Twelve large rehearsal and dance studios, numerous music and ensemble studios, a specialised visual and performing arts library collection, and numerous exhibition spaces. Fully equipped broadcasting facilities and studios for television and radio. An environment has been created where broadcasting students can gain first hand experience of working within a media environment.

Academic appointments

Academic teaching appointments are made on the basis of qualifications, recent professional experience, industry profile, and reputation. WAAPA invites international professionals to Perth as artists in residence to work with students on productions and performances and to provide performance and professional advice through workshops. These have included New York saxophonist Jon Gordon and composer/arranger/guitarist Anthony Wilson. Notable past teaching appointments include the Australian conductor of

choral A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

orchestral An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, ce ...

, and

operatic Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

works, Richard Gill as dean of the Western Australian Conservatorium of Music from 1985 to 1990. When Gill moved to take up an appointment as Director of Chorus at

Opera Australia Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of ...

Edward Applebaum Edward Applebaum (September 28, 1937 – January 7, 2020) was an American composer of contemporary classical music. Born in Los Angeles, United States of America,Anon. (February 1, 2002)"Applebaum, Edward Applebaum" ccm :: composers-classical-musi ...

filled the appointment.

Notable alumni

* Hollie Andrew * Luke Arnold *

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* Andrew Bibby * Shalom Brune-Franklin *

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* Marcus Graham * Kerrie Anne Greenland *

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* Geraldine Hakewill * Karla Hart *

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* Jim Jefferies *

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* Hélène Joy *

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* Ewen Leslie * Ben Lewis *

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* Suzie Mathers * Ainsley Melham * Jonathan Messer *

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* Tim Minchin * Seann Miley Moore *

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* Ben O'Toole * Taryn Onafaro *

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* Karin Page * Nicholas Papademetriou *

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* Chris Piechocki *

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* Matthew Lee Robinson * Dana Rosendorff * Gretel Scarlett *

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References

External links

* * {{authority control Australian tertiary institutions Universities in Western Australia Film schools in Australia Drama schools in Australia Culture of Western Australia Dance education in Australia Edith Cowan University Educational institutions established in 1980 Mount Lawley, Western Australia