Dismay as James Cook University proposes closure of creative arts in North Queensland

Artists, academics and creative communities fear the loss of one of the region's only university qualification in creative arts.

James Cook University (JCU) is proposing to close the BA creative arts major in North Queensland by the end of 2023.

If these proposed changes are implemented, there will be no university qualification in creative arts available in far north Queensland, a devastating loss for Australia’s tropical arts ecology and its creative communities.

On 15 August 2023, JCU issued five Change Management Proposals, including one to close the Design and Creative Arts major in the BA at its Cairns and Townsville campuses.

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Rochelle Siemienowicz is a Melbourne writer and editor. Her first book Fallen, a memoir was published in 2014 and her second, Double Happiness, a novel, in 2024. She has a PhD in Australian cinema and was previously a journalist at ScreenHub and ArtsHub. ou can find her on Instagram: @Rochelle_Rochelle or at Substack where she writes a fortnightly newsletter, The Fool and the Queen.