May 2007
News and Events List
Contents
- Design graduates receive national accolades
- Former magazine editor heads Journalism at RMIT
- RMIT celebrates reconciliation through art
- Creative Media graduate heads for worlds animation awards
- Students paint the town red
- Study tour benefits north-east Thailand villages
- Would you like your PR hard boiled or scrambled?
Design graduates receive national accolades
Two alumni of RMIT’s Communication Design degree have been recognized as being among Australia’s top 40 design graduates of the year.
Monument magazine has recognised Communication Design graduates Henrik Josefsson and Linn Gravdahl's among Australia’s top 40 design graduates.
International students Henrik Josefsson and Linn Gravdahl have been recognized by Monument, Australia’s pre-eminent magazine of architecture and design. They feature in the March 2007 edition, in the article ‘The New Generation.’
They have been cited for work they completed as part of the third year of the Bachelor of Design in Communication Design.
Design lecturer Renato Gallina was thrilled that his former students have been recognised by a national publication. “They were passionate about design and very hard-working. It’s great to see them being acknowledged,” he said.
Hailing from Scandanavia, Henrik and Linn have both been employed by Melbourne design studios, and will no doubt make a great contribution to the vibrant local design culture.
Former magazine editor heads Journalism at RMIT
Newspaper journalist and magazine editor, Maree Curtis, who has travelled the world interviewing extraordinary people, is the new Head of Journalism at RMIT University.
A lecturer and tutor in the School of Applied Communication since the mid-1990s, Ms Curtis has extensive experience as a print news reporter, feature writer and editor.
Starting her career at RMIT as a guest lecturer and sessional tutor in PR Writing, Ms Curtis has written and coordinated courses for the undergraduate, post graduate and masters programs, and also for RMIT Training.
“As a journalist and academic, I am extremely excited and proud to be heading such a respected program as Journalism,” Ms Curtis said.
“I have no doubt that my new job would be much more difficult had I not had the advantage of my three years with the PR program, learning not only about RMIT, but also building my confidence and skill as an educator.
“RMIT's Journalism program is, without doubt, the best of its kind offered in Victoria, and one of the most respected in the country.
“One of RMIT’s greatest strengths is its reputation for producing industry-ready graduates, which is becoming increasingly significant as media organisations cut back on their in-house training programs.
“We already have strong links with industry and will continue to build such relationships,” she said.
Ms Curtis began her journalism career with The Sun News Pictorial in the mid-1980s. Since then she has enjoyed postings with The Age, The Sunday Age and Herald Sun newspapers, and was the Melbourne editor for Woman's Day.
When the production of News Limited’s Sunday Magazine moved to Sydney three years ago, Ms Curtis, the senior writer with the publication, accepted a full-time lecturing position in RMIT’s PR program, teaching writing.
“Being the senior writer for the Sunday Magazine was the best journalism job in Australia,” Ms Curtis said.
“I got to fly around the country, and the world, interviewing interesting people – celebrities, politicians, sportspeople, writers, drug smugglers and ordinary people who found themselves in extraordinary situations,” she said.
“But one can take only so much of a good thing and I found that while I was still passionate about the craft of journalism, I was losing my passion for actually doing it.
“In recent years, a number of universities have introduced Journalism studies, and I’m mindful that RMIT can’t afford to rest on its laurels.
“The challenge, for the entire Journalism staff team, is to ensure that RMIT remains the leader in the field of Journalism education.
“Our graduates are respected, not only for their ability to direct a television news program, produce a radio show or write a news story, but because they have been taught to think about what they do, and why they do it, not just how they do it,” Ms Curtis said.
RMIT celebrates reconciliation through art
Performer John Tye from Aboriginal dance troupe, “One Fire”.
RMIT Vice-Chancellor and President Professor Margaret Gardner AO, with RMIT student, Koorie elder, artist and gumleaf player, Uncle Herb Patten.
RMIT University has marked National Reconciliation Week with the creation of an original artwork.
Aboriginal Elders, community leaders and RMIT staff and students came together at the University’s Bundoora campus for an event on 23 May.
Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Margaret Gardner AO, led a special ceremony acknowledging and celebrating the contribution of Indigenous Australians in RMIT’s 120th year.
The event, which featured music from the Aboriginal Community Elders Services choir and the Charcoal Club band featuring Richard Frankland, culminated in the creation of two artworks using traditional Indigenous paints and techniques.
Guests were asked to place their hands in paint and then onto the canvas. The artwork was entitled “Hands Together”.
Professor Gardner said: “National Reconciliation Week is a time for us to renew our commitment to reconciliation and to think about how we can help turn around the continuing disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
“This event, through the creation of these artworks, symbolises RMIT’s commitment to recognising reconciliation and celebrates our strong and ongoing connection with Indigenous Australia.”
The new name of RMIT’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Unit was also announced. It will be changed to “Ngarara Willim Indigenous Centre at RMIT University”. Ngarara Willim means "gathering place" in the Wurundjeri language.
RMIT is expanding the Unit and relocating it to the main student centre on the City campus, giving all staff and students a central, and more prominent, point of contact for all Indigenous-related activities and issues.
“It is essential that RMIT maintains an environment that is culturally sensitive and inclusive. This Unit plays an integral role in this process,” said Professor Gardner.
The event was held at the RMIT Union Arts PITspace Gallery and included works by students from the Indigenous Arts Unit of the School of Art.
RMIT graduate heads for world animation awards
Darcy Prendergast working on a scene from “Ron the Zookeeper”.
Ron the Zookeeper as featured in Darcy Prendergast’s film.
An RMIT University graduate is to screen his latest film at the largest animation festival in the world.
Darcy Prendergast, who graduated from RMIT with a Bachelor of Animation and Interactive Media in 2006, will screen his film “Ron the Zookeeper” at Annecy 2007 in June.
It is the only Australian film selected in the competitive “Graduation Films” program.
The festival, showcasing the work of the world’s best animators, has been held in the French town of Annecy for the past 45 years.
The film is a six-minute clay animation about a panda named Sushi.
Mr Prendergast produced the film while at RMIT. It focuses on Ron’s quest to save the Grey Panda from extinction.
“Sushi is the last male Grey Panda in the world and Ron is sent in to retrieve a sperm sample,” said Mr Prendergast.
“One problem, Sushi is impotent. I will leave the rest to your imagination.”
The film took two years to produce using software which captures motion frame by frame.
“You really do need a lot of patience and a strong attention to detail. That said, at the end of the production, you have a film you are immensely proud of, and that hard work pays off,” said Mr Prendergast.
“Ron the Zookeeper” will be screened at Annecy 2007 on 11-16 June. It will also be screened on 6 June at the Fitzroy Shorts 2007 festival in Melbourne.
RMIT’s Animation and Interactive Media programs are now accepting applications for mid-year entry. Visit the School of Creative Media’s web site for more information.
Watch Darcy Prendergast’s showreel on YouTube
RMIT students paint the town red
(left to right): Helen Pollard, Wendy Black, Sue Jarvis and Antonella Ripani in a Dandenong lane.
Three RMIT University students have teamed up with a local artist to revitalise the streets of Dandenong.
Art in Public Space students Helen Pollard, Wendy Black and Antonella Ripani have created a series of temporary art installations with local artist Sue Jarvis.
The Essence project, commissioned by Dandenong City Council, aims to provide pedestrians with thought-provoking experiences when walking through the city centre.
Miss Pollard, who curated the installation, said: “We have tried to capture the essence of the city by representing its history and spirit in each piece.
“I created abstract representations of local maps featuring familiar places and landmarks.”
Ms Black’s work celebrates a local native orchid; Ms Jarvis’ work feature small abstract paintings of popular Dandenong sites; while Miss Ripani examines the ancient river red gum tree, cut down during the construction of the Dandenong Southern Bypass.
The installations are in Pearce and Ewart lanes and will be displayed until 6 June.
Study tour benefits north-east Thailand villages
RMIT students Rebekah Farrell and Meg Berryman with the Lahork Krasang Village Youth Group, Buriram.
RMIT students Callum McQueen and Karla Arietta plant rice at Nong Bor Village, Ubon Rachathani.
Traditional farewell ceremony, Lahork Krasang Village, Buriram.
Eight students from RMIT University’s International Studies program have spent four weeks in remote villages in Thailand helping community leaders to develop sustainable cultural and home-stay tourism businesses.
Bachelor of Arts (International Studies) students Lisa Laskardis, Callum McQueen, Tanya Stelmach, Karla Arrieta, Anne Flew, Jessica Head-Gray, Meg Berryman and Rebekah Farrell lived in four villages as part of an annual study tour which this year focused on the “Three Rivers Project” in north-east Thailand.
Program Manager Dr Paul Battersby, who worked with the Local Information Centre for Development (LICD) at Nakhon Ratchasima in Thailand to organise the tour, said it promoted fun and practical learning in a way that was beneficial to the communities involved.
“The students were involved in formal and informal community consultations about cultural tourism and cultural sustainability and in the process became local celebrities,” said Dr Battersby.
“Students lived rough, rural Thai-style, sleeping on the floor, washing in cold water drawn from concrete troughs, eating home-style Thai food and learning how to communicate in Thai.”
The students, who stayed in the villages of Ban Pak Bung, Ban Lahork-Krasang, Ban Nong Bor and Busair/Wangnamkiew, were matched with Thai university students who acted as translators and cultural mediators.
“Some of the RMIT students gave impromptu English classes at their local primary school and engaged with local youth groups.”
Student Tanya Stelmach said she had always had a naïve belief that Thailand was relatively well off in comparison to other nations in south-east Asia.
“I was given a much needed awakening in Ban Pak Bung. We were given an up-close and brutally honest portrait of reality in rural Thailand,” said Ms Stelmach.
“Travelling to Thailand and working in the villages was an amazing, saddening and uplifting experience. We came to see that, in the end, we weren’t so foreign after all.”
Callum McQueen said that a cross-cultural experience such as this, in a real-life development setting, would help his future career in International Studies.
“Our job was to consult with local villagers to assess potential prospects and challenges for the development of home-stay tourism to their area,” said Mr McQueen.
“It was challenging in many ways but an all-round wonderful experience with much practical learning to reflect on.
“I must also acknowledge the warmth and hospitality of the many lovely villagers we were working with, and I harbour much hope that the project we were working on can evolve to create tangible benefits in terms of employment, education, income and cultural exchange for the local communities.
“I hope RMIT runs more and more study tours along these lines in the future; it sure beats textbook learning.”
Would you like your PR hard boiled or scrambled?
Guests were given the opportunity to ask questions of the panel: Sheila O’Sullivan, Senator Judith Troeth and Professor Tim Flannery.
The breakfast was held in the Grand Ballroom of the Windsor Hotel.
Stephen Walter – inaugural Industry Communicator of the Year.
Eggs, bacon, politics and public relations were all on the menu for the 2007 Public Relations Breakfast and the inaugural Communicator of the Year presentation at the Windsor Hotel’s Grand Ballroom, hosted by RMIT University’s School of Applied Communication.
The Communicator of the Year is designed to recognise, encourage and acknowledge excellence in conduct and performance by communicators of all kinds. It particularly seeks to encourage high standards of ethical conduct and social responsibility.
The award went to Australian of the Year Professor, Tim Flannery, for his campaigning on climate change. The Industry Communicator of the Year went to Stephen Walter, in recognition of his work as a PR practitioner with Australia Post.
Staff and students from the school’s public relations unit organised the event, with the theme “Politics, Principle and PR”.
Guest speakers included Professor Flannery, Senator Judith Troeth, and Sheila O’Sullivan, President of the PRIA College of Fellows and chairman of Socom Pty Ltd.
Ms O’Sullivan said that the role of public relations in the political process was a powerful one.
“It is the quality of communications we assist [the bureaucrats] with that make a quality and civil society,” said Ms O’Sullivan.
Senator Troeth, who most notably crossed the floor on a bill about migration legislation, said that even in politics, if a principle was important to you then it should be stood by above all else.
“Sometimes the party line can be honoured best in the breach rather than the observance,” said Senator Troeth.
Professor Flannery caused a stir during his speech on the politics of climate change and the debate in the media, when he alluded to the possibility of returning his award given the government’s stance on the issue.
Grame Domm, Discipline Coordinator for RMIT Public Relations undergraduate programs, said the PR Breakfast was an annual event which sought to make a contribution to informed debate about the role of public relations in society, and brought together a wide range of industry practitioners, academics and other stakeholders.
“The PR Breakfast is a long-standing event on the Melbourne PR calendar,” said Mr Domm.
“With the addition of the Communicator of the Year Award, we think the event will develop even stronger and broader interest in years to come.”
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