Foundation Studies Program (Standard) - Arts (X0F:1) (0100808) + Diploma of Arts (A1A) (0100746)

Engagement with music, visual arts, dance and other creative art forms can change people’s lives, bringing joy, restoring self-confidence and improving mental and physical wellbeing. In this major, students can learn about global developments in this emerging interdisciplinary field and develop an understanding of how and why the arts can help to relieve suffering, improve wellbeing, and foster resilience. They will have opportunities to explore their artistic creativity and challenge themselves to apply knowledge and skills through finding arts-based solutions to the health and wellbeing challenges of the 21st century.

In first year students will learn the fundamentals of how interactions with different forms of the creative arts are processed by the brain, evaluate innovative arts-based programs that have been developed to improve function and wellbeing and reflect on their experience of the creative process. In the second year they will continue to explore creativity and learn visual and digital skills for arts-based interventions along with a range of strategies to promote emotional wellbeing. During third year students will develop further contextual knowledge and skills for working with diverse groups of people of all ages and deepen understanding of how engagement with the arts affects the brain and body. They will also research specific applications of the arts to improve the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities, while developing proposal for trialling a concept and designing an arts project for a specific group or need.

Studying this innovative major in University of Tasmania will give access to leading researchers in creative arts practices, dementia, sociology and health, within a state that leads the world in alternative responses to ageing. By completing this major students are eligible to receive membership of the peak creative arts therapy association ANZACATA. Graduates in this field find employment in diverse settings including arts organisations, hospitals, aged care facilities, rehabilitation centres, and prisons.