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 unive ...

(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 i ...

, 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 m ...

, contemporary and classical music, composition and music technology, dance, acting, 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,

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, ...

, 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 libret ...

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 ...

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 Hollie Andrew is an Australian film, television and stage actress. Early life and education Andrew was born and raised in Adelaide. She graduated from Flinders University (SA) in 1999 with an Honours Degree in Drama. She then attended the Wes ...

* Luke Arnold *

Viva Bianca Viva Bianca (born Viva Skubiszewski; 17 November 1983, ; ) is an Australian actress best known for her role as Ilithyia on the Starz network series '' Spartacus: Blood and Sand'' and '' Spartacus: Vengeance''. Bianca graduated from the Weste ...

* Andrew Bibby * Shalom Brune-Franklin * Jeremy Callaghan * Jarrod Carland * Vivien Carter * Karina Carvalho * Dustin Clare * Sam Corlett *

Jai Courtney Jai Courtney (; born 15 March 1986) is an Australian actor. He started his career with small roles in films and television series before being cast as Charlie in the action film '' Jack Reacher'' (2012). He has gone on to star in '' A Good Day t ...

* Martin Crewes * Cassie Davis * Charmaine Dragun *

Stella Donnelly Stella Donnelly (born 10 April 1992) is a Welsh-Australian indie rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. After the success of her debut EP ''Thrush Metal'' in 2017, she signed with Secretly Canadian in 2018. She released her debut studio album ''B ...

* Lucy Durack *

Georgie Gardner Georgie Gardner (born 1 June 1970) is an Australian television and news presenter and journalist. Gardner is currently weekend presenter on '' Nine News Sydney.'' She has previously been a co-host and news presenter on the Nine Network's breakf ...

Mark Gasser Mark Gasser (born 6 July 1972) is a British concert pianist. Career Gasser was born in Sheffield, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, in 1972 to Austrian and Scottish parents. He studied with John Humphreys at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, ...

* Marcus Graham * Kerrie Anne Greenland * Georgina Haig * Geraldine Hakewill *

Karla Hart Karla Hart is a writer, film-maker, dancer, actress and director and has been the event co-ordinator for Wardarnji Festival 2011- 2015, is currently the Drive time presenter for Noongar Radio which broadcasts in Perth Perth is the capi ...

Hugh Jackman Hugh Michael Jackman (born 12 October 1968) is an Australian actor. Beginning in theatre and television, he landed his breakthrough role as James "Logan" Howlett / Wolverine in the 20th Century Fox ''X-Men'' film series (2000–2017), a role ...

* Jim Jefferies *

Kate Jenkinson Kate Jenkinson is an Australian actress, known for her various roles on '' The Wedge'', as well as her role of Kendall Quinn on '' Super Fun Night''. She is known for her role as Allie Novak in the Australian TV series '' Wentworth''. Educati ...

* Hélène Joy * Gerald Lepkowski * Ewen Leslie * Ben Lewis *

Meg Mac Megan Sullivan McInerney (born 6 July 1990 in Sydney), known by her stage name Meg Mac, is an Australian singer-songwriter and musician. She signed to littleBIGMAN records in 2014, locally, and 300 Entertainment in United States. Early career ...

Tammy MacIntosh Tammy MacIntosh (born 16 February 1970) is an Australian actress known for portraying Dr. Charlotte Beaumont in the medical drama '' All Saints'' and Jool in the TV series ''Farscape''. She is also known for her roles on television series ''The F ...

* Suzie Mathers * Ainsley Melham * Jonathan Messer *

William McInnes Daryl William Mathew Gabriel McInnes (born 10 September 1963) is an Australian film and television actor and writer. He portrayed the role of Matt Tivolli in '' The Time of Our Lives''. He is best known for his roles as Senior Constable Nick Sc ...

Lisa McCune Lisa McCune (born 19 February 1971) is an Australian actress, known for her role in TV series ''Blue Heelers'' as Senior Constable Maggie Doyle, and in '' Sea Patrol'' as Lieutenant Kate McGregor RAN. She has won four Gold Logie Awards. McCun ...

* Tim Minchin * Seann Miley Moore *

Dacre Montgomery Dacre Kayd Montgomery-Harvey (; born 22 November 1994) is an Australian actor. He is known for his roles as Billy Hargrove in the Netflix series ''Stranger Things'' (2017–2022), Jason Scott in the 2017 action film ''Power Rangers'', and Steve ...

* Frances O'Connor * Ben O'Toole *

Taryn Onafaro Taryn Onofaro is an Australian television presenter. Born 10 October 1979 in Perth, Western Australia, she attended the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. During this time she worked on Perth breakfast radio and on the now defunct A ...

Paul Paddick Paul Andrew Paddick (born 16 February 1967) is an Australian singer and actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Captain Feathersword, "the friendly pirate", a character associated with the children's band the Wiggles, where he eventually cam ...

* Karin Page * Nicholas Papademetriou *

Kevin Penkin Kevin Penkin (born 22 May 1992) is a British-born Australian composer, primarily for video games and anime. He is best known for composing the score of the anime '' Made in Abyss'', which won Best Score at the 2nd Crunchyroll Anime Awards, and t ...

Eddie Perfect Eddie Perfect (born 17 December 1977) is an Australian singer-songwriter, pianist, comedian, writer and actor. Widely known for his role as Mick Holland in Channel Ten's TV series ''Offspring'' in which he performs his own music, he has record ...

* Chris Piechocki * Gemma Pranita *

Dominic Purcell Dominic Haakon Myrtved PurcellO'Connor, B,Break Out". ''Men's Fitness''. December/January 2007 Issue; retrieved 18 December 2006. (born 17 February 1970) is a British-Australian actor. He is best known for his portrayals of Lincoln Burrows in ...

* Matthew Lee Robinson * Dana Rosendorff * Gretel Scarlett *

Kris Stewart Kris Stewart (born February 9, 1967 in Portsmouth) is the founding chairman of English football club AFC Wimbledon and a left wing political activist. He was the club's chief executive and is also a CIMA past finalist management accountant. Unde ...

* Pria Viswalingam * Erica Wardle * Nic Westaway

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