Writing & Contemporary Cultures (1 Viewer)

[Hermzie]

If you want to do journalism in a specialist area you should just do a degree in that area. E.g. do a degree in art theory or something. Or just do a general arts degree maybe where you can study art alongside writing. YOu need to have specialist knowledge to become a specialist writer. By art criticism do you mean being an arts reviewer, or writing stories about art criticism? I don't really understand what type of writing you are talking about. A lot of journalism is news focused particularly in first year but after first year you can pick subjects like print features, editing and publishing that are a bit less newsy. But there is still a news focus.

If you are interested in editing and not interested in creative writing, journalism might be better than the writing degree.

What I did before I picked UTS was to look at the content of subjects that form part of the degree. You can find out what stuff you do in subjects and what subjects form part of the degree by looking at the faculty handbook.

http://www.handbook.uts.edu.au/hss/index.html

Have a look at what the subjects focus on, that will give you more of an idea.

Ooo, thanks for that!

By art criticsm, I mean me actually being a critic and writing reviews etc. While that is a specialised area (so it would be better for me to do Art Theory or something), are employers more partial towards the journalist students or the art theory students? Because I want to do a degree that will be recognised by employers so that the chances of getting the actual job will be easier.

 

[braindrainedAsh]

I don't think they would care what degree you had, as long as you have a portfolio of published work when you graduate. That is the most important thing and that is what they will look at above all else. You should just do what degree interests you the most. A straight arts degree etc might be better for that because you could combine film studies/art theory as well as writing and english subjects, journalism is more news based. But it is pretty hard to get a job as a critic, you need to have a specialized knowledge and usually experience in the industry that you are critiquing.

 

[Hermzie]

When/where would uni students be given the opportunity to have their work published?

 

[braindrainedAsh]

You have to work hard for it. You have to ring around places and ask them if you have a story if they will publish it. Be prepared to write for free for anything that offers a byline or a reference of some sort. Do work experience. You need to write stories during your spare time or uni holidays. Write for student magazines, online sites like vibewire.net, get involved with community and student media. There is a link stickied which links to some publications by UTS journalism students etc which are places to start as well. You just have to keep your eyes open and call people and write and be motivated. It's not very easy. You have to really want it.

Having a strong portfolio shows a potential employer your talents and passion. A degree just shows them that you went to uni. Your portfolio is what will make your degree useful.

 

[iH]

I agree with a lot of what Ash is saying except for a few things.

She's right about having a portfolio, and while a long list makes a slight difference - academic journals/known publications are what most people will be looking for. That means that vibewire is (unfortunately out), as is vertigo, but Reportage (from what i know), Meanjin, Boxkite, Cordite and HEAT are in.
Telegraph, Herald, Australian etc. are even better.

As for art reviews (as in reviews on other writing), you will find that a lot of fiction writers delve into this to help pay the bills/keep publishing things. Whatever course you're doing will NOT get you published in this realm, the only way is to apply to these places to review/send reviews to them. Sure, in the writing degree, there are people around to alert you to how the industry works - but that part of the business is mostly left up to you.

However, the course is useful for teaching you how to write about texts. In 'Writing and Contemporary Cultures' (which i think is now called 'and Cultural Studies'), your basic (per semester) subject allocation is one writing, one cultural and one elective.

The elective usually ends up being cultural, sociological or writing anyway. There is a lot of emphasis on cultural texts, such as the ones you propose to write reviews of above - that is a plus. If you're also going to try and publish creative fictional writing (or even non-fiction writing - there is a course on it) - it's probably the best around.

In terms of being published at UTS, there is the UTS writer's anthology made every year, but it appears to be very biased (as in, the editors like to pick their friends) even though it is governed by the faculty. Vertigo is pretty good at publishing everything, except they also have a set group of writers that work on it constantly. Anthology counts as a 'publication' (see above for the difference), Vertigo does not, but is another name on your list

From what i know, "U:" magazine is mostly written by staff academics, but i have never tried to submit to perhaps it would be an option.


PM me if you have any more questions

 

[Hermzie]

Thank you so much for that Ashlee and iH It was really helpful.