This year our students have experienced so many wins on all fronts. From smashing academic goals right through to representing JMC in the real creative world and turning all they have learned into bonafide career (and lifetime!) achievements. Proud doesn’t begin to describe how we feel towards everything that’s happened and the gratitude we have for the JMC’s vibrant staff is equally felt.

To the students, staff and supporters of JMC, THANK YOU for making 2023 the year that was. We’re taking this moment to reflect on some of the year’s biggest highlights, and contemplating the wonders that await in 2024.

We started off (and ended!) strong with St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival.

The announcement of our partnership with St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival landed on excited ears across all campuses and at the beginning of the year! We hit the ground running for the first time with one of Australia’s most exciting touring festivals with student placements, activations and stage takeovers abounds. It was an unforgettable learning experience for all and we can’t wait to do it all again in early 2024 with a new round of students and this year’s JMC representatives on the Laneway stage- Brisbane’s Worm Girlz!

Re:Write saw the stars streak through our Melbourne Campus.

Re:Write, the one-of-a-kind songwriting conference spearheaded by our talented JMC Staff, returned to Melbourne in April with a stellar lineup of some of the country’s most talented songwriters. Students had the privilege of attending exclusive masterclasses and panel sessions with artists including Jen Cloher, Nina Las Vegas, Angeline Armstrong and Joshua Moriarty from Telenova, DRMNGNOW and more, plus performances from local artists Olivia Meg, Charlie Needs Braces and Amy Flight. Keep your eyes on this space in 2024, we have some very exciting news around the corner!

We rocked out with Rolling Stone Australia \m/

Our students were front and centre one again at this year’s rock ‘n’ roll night of nights, the Rolling Stone Australia Awards! From interviewing artists on the red carpet to event logistics and management, it was a jam-packed night filled with excitement, stars and electric guitars. We even bumped into a whole bunch of JMC Alumni working at and attending the show! Congratulations to our students across Entertainment Management, Film & TV, Music + more that made the event such a success. 

We visited some of Australia’s most innovative studio spaces!

2023 was a year for adventures and it was our pleasure to take our Film, Animation and Game Design students to visit some of Australia’s most advanced creative places! From visiting Fox Lighting studios on the Disney Lot to Dreamscreen Australia, our students explored new ways to set stages, light sets, perform stunts and much more. Innovation in the Creative Industries is often as exciting as the creative ideas themselves!

We travelled to the far corners of the country and the world (talk about creative pursuit!).

From Barunga Festival to Armidale, Los Angeles, Tokyo and more. Our students travelled to the far corners of the globe on the many global study tours and work experience trips we facilitated in 2023! From learning animation techniques in the birthplace of manga and documenting cultural festivals, to absorbing the cinematic splendour of Universal Studios and checking out the sound desks at the Los Angeles College of Music, there was no shortage of core memories and friendships forged over the many kilometres travelled together. 

August saw us throw our biggest Open Days ever!

We broke RECORDS in 2023 with our biggest and most exciting Open Days to date! It was our absolute joy to see the many hundreds of prospective students and their families pass through the doors of our campuses around the country (especially at our BRAND NEW campus in Melbourne!). Getting to show off everything our students have been working so hard on in the places that fuel and enable their creativity to flow free is one of the greatest parts of our Open Days. We can’t wait to do it all again in January!

Our alumni REPRESENTED in the nation’s most prestigious creative awards!

We can’t let a 2023 wrap-up slip by without mentioning the many achievements of our alumni this year (once a member of the JMC community, always a member!). Congratulations to our ARIA nominees Harry O’Brien from Pacific Avenue, Chanel Loren and PANIA for their recognition within Australia’s music sector, plus our Australian Women In Music Award (AWMA) nominees Chelsea Wilson and Nazlican Eren. Also sending a massive congrats to JMC educator Jane Gazzo for taking out the AWMA Journalist of the Year Award!

We sang and danced our way to BRAND NEW degrees!

This year we unveiled TWO exciting new degrees to the world in the area of theatre: our Diploma of Live Production and Technical Services (Stage Management) in Sydney and Bachelor of Creative Arts (Acting) with Specialisation in Music Theatre in Melbourne! We’re over the moon about these two new areas of study and the calibre of specialisation they now offer our students. To give the launch of these new courses an extra boost we hosted open audition workshops with some of the industry’s elite! 

We played host to one of the world’s most innovative festivals, SxSW Sydney!

Back in October we teamed up with the iconic arts and innovation festival SxSW Sydney as an official venue partner for 2023 and boy, what a week it was! Students all across JMC were able to get involved with and attend SXSW Sydney in ways that best fit their passions and study areas. From student gaming showcases, to inspiring talks and our ultra-successful Fresh Slice Showcase, it was an event for the history books and another bright feather in the hat of JMC’s impressive collection of industry partnerships. We can’t wait to see how SXSW Sydney continues to evolve in 2024!

We worked with our partners to give our students unparalleled hands-on experience.

At JMC we know that nothing can beat the educational opportunities that come along with real world experience. We partnered up with absolute best in 2023 to ensure that our students were learning from the absolute best, with students gaining the opportunity to get involved with organisations and companies such as Music Victoria, PAX Australia, Variety Australia and many more.

It’s been one massive year for our JMC community, with hard work culminating in big wins and a world of opportunity for our students. We can’t wait to see what new opportunities emerge in 2024 and extend our heartfelt thanks to every staff member, student and community member that helped contribute to the overall success of the past twelve months!