The establishment of a new media school for Castlemaine looks set to further enhance the town’s profile as a creative centre for Victoria.
Founder of the new Castlemaine Media School is Luca Royle, a professional photographer and award-winning documentary maker with a longstanding international background in media.
Ms Royle has now taken a year-long lease of upstairs office space at Castlemaine’s central Hub building fronting Barker Street as headquarters for the new media school and is launching with a diverse range of short courses delivered online.
She said initial offerings would include creative writing for teenagers and for adults, Excel, photography composition and screen writing for adults.
Courses in Python programming language – used in digital games design, iMovie video editing, sound production and more advanced technical aspects of applied photography are among future course offerings planned.
“We’re looking at starting at the end of May,” Ms Royle said.
Four and eight-week short courses will be offered and will be aimed at both adults and teenagers or young adults seeking to break into specific media careers and niche creative media disciplines.
“My vision is that we support industry artists and creative professionals through teaching, as well as emerging artists, and by artists I don’t mean visual artists but all arts,” Ms Royle said.
The emphasis for students will be on producing solid practical skills that can then be applied for use in the real world – “rather than just theory,” the school’s founder said.
“They’re going to get fairly personalised treatment.”
In-person delivery and weekend-long specialist courses are also anticipated for offer, post COVID-19 restrictions.
Ms Royle said the new media school would draw on the diverse creative arts and professional media talent already in the Castlemaine area, creating employment opportunities for established local media professionals who would lead the courses across the various disciplines.
More information is now available from the Castlemaine Media School website.
