VCA Art occupies a custom-designed studio complex housing its specialist studios on a single site, which has immediate access to Victoria’s most important art venues.

VCA Art had its origins in the National Gallery School, which was founded in 1867. In 1992 it was merged with the Prahran Faculty of Art (Victoria College) which also dates back to the mid-nineteenth century.

The discipline has built on the strong reputations and unique qualities of its predecessors and has established a dynamic presence as a forward-looking discipline with a clear mission to continue to prepare artists with a lifelong commitment as professional practitioners.

The specific objectives of the VCA Art are to:

• produce graduates who are capable of pursuing careers as professional artists;
• promote the advancement of the practice and theory of the visual art disciplines and to encourage investigation into the conjunction of the conceptual and formal aspects of the visual arts;
• create an environment which fosters the professional development of vocational artists through study programs, exhibitions, research into the visual arts and other relevant activities;
• periodically examine the discipline’s relationship with the arts community and with Australian society; to maintain international links where appropriate; and to seek new ways of relating to individuals, groups and organisations.