14 May 2021

Next week, VCE students from Caroline Chisholm Catholic College, Braybrook, will showcase their performances for the first time in years after the college secured VET Live Production Services as a Year 11 and 12 subject in collaboration with the Victorian Arts Centre.

The students will have access to valuable industry experience with the venue – an opportunity unique to the college as it is the first school to work directly with the centre.

Head of learning for performing arts, Damian Bernardo played an important role in helping the college achieve this feat. Reflecting on how the collaboration came about, he said it was an opportunity the school’s staff found hard to refuse.

‘I was fortunate, while in Sydney, to have gained Catholic education funding to complete my Certificate III in Live Production and Services at the National Institute of Dramatic Art’, said Damian.

‘I returned to Melbourne and proposed to our VET coordinator that we be the first school in Melbourne to offer this same course as a VET subject. We visited the centre recently and the students were able to work with industry professionals, learning about sound, lighting and vision operations in this world-class venue.’

There is no question the college’s investment in its arts programs has paid off. Some alumni are now professional dancers, dancing with Sydney Dance Company, as well as hip-hop dancers who perform with local dance crews like KSTAR and BKODE.

Damian said one graduate from last year is currently undertaking a full-time acting course at Victorian College of the Arts and some students have gained employment backstage, working in staging, lighting, sound and vision operation.