Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design

Whitecliffe College of Arts & Design offers internationally recognised tertiary level programmes ranging from Foundation to Masters, at NQF levels 4-9. The four-year Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) programme offers majors in fashion design, fine arts, graphic design and photography, film and video. There are Masters qualifications in arts management, arts therapy, arts therapy (clinical) and fine arts. Undergraduate students can successfully exit their programme at the Certificate, Diploma, Advanced Diploma or Degree level. Whitecliffe operates from two campuses located in central Auckland, with individual studio spaces for BFA students, including one public gallery for exhibiting work by students, faculty and visiting artists.

Low student-lecturer ratios support student-centred learning. The emphasis is on students owning their own work and being able to articulate their purpose and position. Whitecliffe provides a comprehensive grounding in business, marketing and professional ethics, as well as a focus on contextual history, theory and social sciences that influence traditional and contemporary arts and design practice. Official student retention and completion rates are 80+%.

The College was established by Greg and Michele Whitecliffe opening in 1983. Whitecliffe has now positioned itself as an industry leader in contemporary arts and design education.
 

 

Postal:

Whitecliffe College of Arts & Design
PO Box 8192
Symonds St
Auckland

Phone:

 09 309 5970

Fax:

 09 302 2957

Website:

 www.whitecliffe.ac.nz

NZQA Info:

 Visit NZQA Website

Email:

 info@whitecliffe.ac.nz

Campus:

Main campus
24 Balfour Rd
Parnell
Auckland

Fine Arts Campus
130 St Georges Bay Rd
Parnell
Auckland

Programmes:
  • Master of Fine Arts
  • Master of Arts in Arts Therapy
  • Master of Arts in Arts Therapy (Clincial)
  • Master of Arts in Arts Management 
  • Bachelor of Fine Arts
  • Advanced Diploma of Arts and Design (Year 3, BFA)
  • Diploma of Arts and Design (Year 2, BFA)
  • Preparatory Certificate of Arts and Design (Alternative Year 1, BFA)
  • Certificate of Arts and Design (Year 1, BFA)
  • Foundation Certificate in Arts and Design (bridging programme)
  • Foundation Certificate in Arts and Design (bridging programme) with English Language assistance

 

Whitecliffe Busy Over Summer
January 2012

For many educational institutes summer is a quiet time, where everyone takes the opportunity to renew and refresh, butWhitecliffe Masters Group at Whitecliffe there was plenty afoot.  

The Masters programmes are low-residency and they make use of the facilities when the undergraduates aren’t onsite.  So after a short, wet Christmas break the staff and students were back on 16 January with the first post-graduate seminar week of the year. 

The Masters of Arts, Arts Therapy students embarked on their clinical year with an intense but rewarding week.  The Master of Fine Arts seminar had a mix of students who were starting, mid-way or completing their programme. 

Those completing had their end-of-programme exhibition, which was well attended by the art community and demonstrated quite a depth of work and range of media.  Whiteclife has a relationship with Montclair State University in New Jersey and this year their Head of Fine Arts, Andrew Atkinson, was the visiting scholar for the MFA seminar.  He was most impressed with both the programme and the level of the graduating students and is keen to have some of them exhibit at Montclair State University Gallery, situated only twelve miles from New York City.

Takuro Kotaka of Japan has joined Whitecliffe for 12 weeks as the artist in residence.  Takuro is a multi-media and conceptual artist who films everyday life but also engages with people through his performances or through his imaginary narratives and hypotheses. In 2008, after hearing a rumour that ‘there are no potatoes in Egypt’, he bought a potato in South Africa and travelled across the continent for seven months to Egypt, visiting 14 countries along the way.  This resulted in a video installation - “Travelling Africa with a Potato”. Whitecliffe looks forward to the work he will produce while he is here.

Whitecliffe has a new Director of Research, Anthony Byrt, who comes with an international reputation for his work in publications such as Artforum and Frieze.  Anthony has commented on the how successful he felt the Whitecliffe programme was in both research and the variety of areas the students are pursuing along with the added human touch that is unique to Whitecliffe.  


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