Published
28-9-2025
Type of Work
Conference Presentation
Abstract
Australian tertiary contemporary music courses often feature a curriculum that includes aspects of songwriting, music production, music industry, cultural studies, collaborative entrepreneurship and individual creative practice. Research shows that graduates from these programs commonly move into the often-cited 'portfolio career', which integrates diverse aspects of musical practice such as performance, recording, teaching, community engagement, and a digital creative presence.
At SAE University College, the institution is driven by structures and frameworks to ensure that student learning is authentic, collaborative, feedback-focused, and future-oriented. Learning opportunities include real-world tasks, projects and simulations that enable growth through experiential and experimental activities. Learning happens through engaged participation, teamwork and interdisciplinarity with projects designed to spark curiosity, creativity and the awareness of industry trends, changes and challenges.
This research reports on two industry activation projects embedded within the Bachelor of Music curriculum at SAE during 2025.
1. “Rainbow Bop” - Children's Youtube Series. In this multidisciplinary project, students leverage their portfolio driven skill set to contribute to a range of elements within the production including - songwriting and arranging to a brief, music production, social media content creation, and project management.
2. "Brisbane Festival" - Content Creation. With the festival acting as a client, students produce musical work across multiple genres for use in the Brisbane Festival social media content suite.
By engaging students with two distinct industry partners across multiple units of study, students can contribute music to projects that are vibrant and present within the community - with client feedback and tangible folio development. The range of output developed by students enables them to learn how to be adaptable in their creative practice and how to utilise their creative and industry skills for diverse musical projects and audiences.
Citation
Foran, S., & Carroll, P. (2025, September 26-29). Creating with industry: Integrating industry projects within a tertiary music curriculum [Conference presentation]. ASME XXV National Conference: Music Ahead, Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.