Tell us about the curriculum that you currently have on offer.
JMC Academy has 8 different courses on offer for training in the creative industries. Each degree is divided up into 6 trimesters, totaling to 2 years of study. Each course includes many components of practical study as well as theory-based subjects. Courses offered at JMC Academy include Audio Engineering and Sound Production, Contemporary Music Performance, Entertainment Business Management, Animation, Game Development, Film and Television, Digital Design and Songwriting.
How does the teaching regime operate? How are classes and units broken up throughout the year?
Each trimester consists of 4 subjects and contains practical sessions, including one on one sessions with our lecturers, as well as lectures with designated classes. There are 4 classes a week for students to spread out through the working week.
What do you offer, which cannot be found anywhere else?
At JMC Academy, we offer a concept called integration, whereby all courses at one point during the degree work on a project with students from other courses. For example, students in Music Performance, Audio, Film and TV, and Entertainment Business will collaborate on a music video project together, each student taking on real-world industry roles for the project.
How do you strive to make students ready to seek out opportunities once they’ve graduated?
All lecturers are working industry professionals in their respective fields, and if students do well in their course, lecturers will help them with internships, work experience, or in getting a full time job. We strive to make sure that students are aware to take any opportunity they can to further their own career and development, whereby we have even provided all students completely free access to Artshub, where industry professional jobs are listed regularly.
With the music industry rapidly changing, how do you adapt and react to constant social shifts?
By making sure we are always up to date on recent technology within the creative industries and making them accessible to our students. We recently introduced a Songwriting Diploma and Degree at JMC, a course we introduced due to the changing music industry and the need for spectacular songwriters.
How important is networking within the music industry? And do you think this should be taught at an early stage of a students learning experience?
In the music industry, a big part of helping your career to progress is to network and make connections. All students should know the basics of how to network and interact with like-minded people in your industry; it benefits all parties. A lot of the time, it definitely is who you know, not what you know, and it’s also great that these students are the future pioneers of the creative industries. So they are essentially making connections and networking at the beginning of their career. Students also can make connections to other industry professionals through their teachers and lecturers.
Do you invite key note speakers or people with industry experience to come in and talk at your institution?
We regularly hold masterclasses and workshops for our students at JMC Academy, such as RAab Stevenson, Dave Aron, Aaron Draplin, and NWA original member The D.O.C. Lecturers will also regularly bring in guest speakers for their classes.
Do you any upcoming events that people might not be aware about?
We regularly hold performance nights at the Jam Gallery, and this year in Sydney we are hosting Prism Sound’s Mic to Monitor Event (Wednesday 10 August). Our Melbourne and Brisbane campuses are also running introductory high school workshops during June and July, and September respectively.
For more information about courses on offer at JMC visit jmcacademy.edu.au.
