New year. New challenges. New goals

It is with pleasure that the DDCA Board welcomes you to a new year with restored energy to continue our shared work supporting and advocating for the creative arts in higher education.

In 2026, we will continue the programs and services you have told us are the most important to you and your communities. Beginning with the Mentorship Program which kicks off this month. Please note, applications are already open for Mentors – more information below.

We will be seeking applications for the DDCA Awards later this year. The Awards are an exciting opportunity for us to recognise and promote the powerful and inspiring creative works from across our community.

After the success of the last two National Online Forums we aim to increase our Forum program in 2026, addressing the most urgent issues facing our members. We will continue these vital conversations and share their outcomes in our Creative Matters journal. Keep an eye open for opportunities to contribute to the issues that matter most to you. The first Creative Matters edition this year is already in production – our HDR and ECR peer-reviewed edition “Researchers in the Making – No Art” will be launched soon!

Finally we will end the year with another Annual Symposium to give us all the opportunity to come together as a community and connect, share, and celebrate. More details to come. You can read about the2025 Symposium on the DDCA website.

2026 MENTORSHIP PROGRAM– CALL FOR MENTORS

The DDCA Mentorship Program is entering its third year and we are pleased to offer up the opportunity for the next cohort of Mentors and Mentees to participate in this iteration.

If you would like to participate as a MENTOR please email editor@ddca.edu.au to register your interest. Read the guidelines.

We welcome past and new Mentors to register by Wednesday 18th February.

A CALL FOR MENTEE APPLICATIONS IS FORTHCOMING 

2026 DDCA BOARD

DDCA’s newly elected President is Professor Jane Davidson, Director at the Victorian College of the Arts. Other newly elected Board members are Professor Naomi Sunderland, Creative Arts Research Institute at Griffith University, Dr Kristen Sharpe (co-opted Member), National Art School, Associate Professor Andrew Lavery (co-opted Member), Sydney College of the Arts, and Associate Professor Guy Keulemans (co-opted Member), Adelaide University (formerly University of South Australia).The full line up of our Board can be found on the DDCA website.

If you would like to share your ideas or suggestions for how the DDCA can support your institution, please email us at: admin@ddca.edu.au

Other recent news

Other related news

DDCA Webinar, 1-2pm AEDT, Friday 9th October 2026. The arts constitute a vital accompaniment to human life across our lifespan, enriching individual wellbeing and fostering social connection from infancy through to older age. In early childhood, musical practices, such as lullabies, play a significant role in supporting emotional regulation, attachment, and cognitive development, providing infants […]

The DDCA together with DASSH (Council of Deans of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities) made a submission to the National Cultural Policy review of Revive. Our submission recognised the important architecture of the existing 5 pillars that work to support First Nations First; A Place for Every Story; Centrality of the Artist; Strong Cultural Infrastructure; and […]

The DDCA Awards are designed to acknowledge and celebrate outstanding contributions to creative arts, elevate and share best practice, and encourage and promote the next generation of creative arts leaders in research and education. The Awards promote diversity and recognise contributions and achievements by First Nations creatives, as well as early-, mid- and senior-career practitioners […]

Power in the Present: Valuing the Arts NOW Date: Tuesday 19th May 2026 Time: 12.00pm – 1.30pm (AEST) WATCH THE RECORDING We are hosting another National Online Forum, continuing our advocacy work to secure artistic practices within and outside the university as fundamental to a healthy and thriving society.     In context of the national and global events […]

The DDCA has made a submission to the Inquiry: Higher Education Support Amendment (Reverse Job-Ready Graduates Fee Hikes and End 50k Arts Degrees) Bill 2025. Read the submission

ABSTRACT It has been widely noted that creative practice research agitates in positive ways certain attitudes, understandings and/or practices towards ‘knowledge’ and ‘research’ within the university context. Not only this, or partly because of this, creative practice research complicates established scholarly protocols of assessment and evaluation. This has been a topic of concern and debate […]