The first degree at TAFE NSW Albury dedicated to a career in the arts sector will combine traditional hands-on learning and business skills.
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The three-year Bachelor of Creative Practice will run for the first time from semester one, and visual arts head teacher Mary-Jane Griggs said it was unlike any course on offer on the Border.
"We haven't had a university-level degree in visual arts since CSU offered one in the '90s," she said.
"That's lead to a recognition of the need to have a solid degree in the visual arts at the higher education level.
"The real innovation with this degree is the entrepreneurship subjects - learning business skills for creative industries.
"In traditional art schools, it's always been full-on practice and theory.
"This will equip people with better interpersonal skills and confidence to be able to sell themselves, and to learn the nitty-gritty business side."
There will be eight hours each week of face-to-face teaching in the TAFE NSW Albury art studios and other topics will range from art history to entrepreneurship.
Ms Griggs said these online subjects would complement the hands-on teaching.
"The online learning will be conducted by the people who actually wrote the courses, and are very experienced at delivering online," she said.
"It's being offered first through Albury and Wagga and is the beginning of a really good course that will grow - other TAFE locations are quite keen."
Border artists including Marley Dawson have been recruited to teach parts of the course, and students like Culcairn artist Tamara Opie have already enrolled.
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"I always wanted to make my art a business, but there's so much to understand about marketing yourself and the business side," Ms Opie said.
"I've already completed the Diploma and Advanced Diploma of Visual Arts at TAFE NSW and the teachers were incredible.
"I'm really looking forward to having a more professional outlook and, in future, possibly opening my own studio to the public."
According to the NSW Creative Industries: An Economic Snapshot report by BYP Group, employment growth over the last five years in creative industries was almost double the rate of other professions.
