Oxygen College will open its doors to the public during their annual Open Day on Saturday, 30th August. Over the last 12 months Oxygen has continued to grow and is now offering courses in Music Performance, Electronic Music, Music Business, Sound Production, Photography, Video Production and Painting & Drawing. We sat down with College Director, Dominic Monea, to get an insight into the Open Day and what programs are on offer for 2015.
What can people expect when they come along to the Open Day?
Dominic Monea: The main thing for us is that people can come along and get a really good understanding of the different courses available and what the facility has to offer. There will also be plenty of activities happening during the day, we will have live bands performing, recording studio demonstrations, photography shoots and artists doing some live painting and drawing.
The Oxygen staff will be available to chat with and show people around the College, and current students will also be available to share their experiences and achievements during their time at the College.
Basically it’s a really great opportunity for people who are interested in doing a course to come along and check things out for themselves first hand.
What might be new for people who were at the open day last year?
It’s been a big 12 months for us. Not only have we been able to offer new qualifications across all our main areas of study, we have also added two new wings to the College, in our photography department and our painting and drawing department.
The photography department has 3 fully equipped professional studios, 2 Mac labs running the latest in photography software, a colour managed printing lab, professional grade lenses and lighting equipment. There is also a gallery for the students to display their works and a student lounge.
Our art department was launched in April and already has had huge support from the public in terms of classes and enrollments. Whilst the facility is still growing, we are really proud of the professional staff and equipment that is already allowing the classes to succeed.
Oxygen College has made a pretty good name for itself in the music industry, is there anything new on that front?
We’re really excited about launching the Diploma of Music Business in 2015. The course is aimed at both musicians and non-musicians who have a passion for the music industry and during the course students will work on a number of projects based around artist and band management, marketing and branding of artists, events staging and promotion. We have been working really hard to develop the program over the past 12 months and already there has been very strong interest, so we can’t wait to see it get started in 2015.
We’ll also be launching a new Artist Preparation Program which is a Certificate IV in Music aimed at musicians wishing to study part-time, a Certificate III in Electronic Music plus we have some exciting changes to our Artist Development Program and Audio courses that we will be launching at the Open Day.
Being based in Geelong, do you find that most of your students are local?
We do get a lot of students from here in Geelong, but our facility is so unique in what it has to offer, that we have found it attracts students from all over Victoria. We currently have students from Ballarat, Melbourne, Warnambool and as far as Western Victoria. I can even think of a couple of students who make a trip of over two hours every week just to come down and be a part of the College.
I think we’re lucky in that we are so central to Geelong and literally down the road from Geelong Railway Station, so it makes it easier for those outside of Geelong to make the commute.
Is there a level of experience that people need to have in their field to apply for the courses?
Our courses have been carefully designed to cater for all ages and levels of ability. We have Certificate programs aimed at students with little or no experience that have a keen interest in a subject as a hobby, all the way up to full time Advanced Diploma programs aimed at preparing students for a career in their chosen field.
We have wonderful staff who have designed these courses to contain clear and concise pathways in the different areas of study. Staff are great at identifying the right course for prospective students to maximize their opportunities and potential to learn.
Oxygen College Open Day is on Saturday 30th August from 11:00am – 3:00pm, 22 Gordon Ave, Geelong West. Register your attendance by visiting www.oxygencollege.com.au or call 1300 195 303 for more information.
By Phil Kearney
