Sydney: Creative Arts and Heritage
Program Quick Facts
- Location: Australia
- Faculty Leaders: Grant Parker & Marie-Louise Catsalis
- Arrival Date: August 10, 2025
- Departure Date: August 30, 2025
- Program Cost: $750
- Academic Prerequisites: 1 unit course offered in Spring Quarter 2024-25
- Activity Level: Light/Moderate: Activities may include city walking tours, easy/short hikes, museum and other site visits, and an occasional physical activity such as snorkeling, hiking, or kayaking.
- Center for Disease Control and Prevention: Health Information for Travelers to Australia
- US State Department Country Information: Australia
- Visa Information: Australian Department of Home Affairs (Electronic Travel Authority)
General Description
This course will explore Australia’s multiple histories, creative expressions as well as ethnic and racial formations. How have Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people interacted with immigrants, starting in early colonial times? The creative arts will provide our lens on Australia’s many, often competing traditions.
Learning Goals
- grasp Australia’s diverse histories via the performing, visual and literary arts
- use creative skills to articulate ideas and themes of the course content
- compare Australian indigenous and immigration experiences with the US and other histories
Prerequisites & Expectation
1 unit course in the spring, based on films, through which we'll introduce students to Australian history and culture.
Location
The course takes place in the heart of Sydney, Australia, and will include a three-night field trip to the spectacular Blue Mountains and Wollongong.
Living and Travel Conditions
Travel to Sydney from San Francisco takes 14 hours on non-stop flights. In Sydney, you will be living in comfortable youth hostel accommodations. Sydney has very good public transport and is very safe. Transport for the 3-night field trip will be by bus.
Faculty
Grant Parker
Grant Parker is a Capetonian by birth, an honorary Sydneysider by family connections and a comparative humanities type by calling. He has taught several times for BOSP in Cape Town and Sydney with his partner (see below): there and on the farm he has relished opportunities for experiential learning. After dark he is an eager amateur musician.
Marie-Louise Catsalis
Musical director and pianist, Marie-Louise Catsalis, was born and bred in Sydney, Australia. She is delighted to introduce you to her artistic and academic colleagues in her home town and work with you on this creative Australian journey.
Grading Basis
Letter Grade