New creative arts hub, The Hedberg, will draw more students to Tasmania, UTAS says

Hobart’s new-age creative arts campus — The Hedberg — will entice more interstate and overseas students to study in Tasmania, University of Tasmania academics say.

Head of School for Creative Arts and Media, Associate Professor Meg Keating and Lecturer in Contemporary Music Matt Boden with the new APIAXS Legacy Console in the control room at the UTAS Hedberg building in Hobart. Picture: CHRIS KIDD

THE opening of Hobart’s new-age creative arts campus will encourage more interstate and overseas students to study in Tasmania, University of Tasmania academics say.

The $110 million Hedberg facility in Hobart’s CBD is due to open when semester one starts later this month. It has been under construction since 2017.

The learning hub for music, theatre, fine arts and media students encourages connections between the creative arts and traditional academic areas, such as science and information technology.

UTAS Hedberg building in Hobart. Picture: CHRIS KIDD

University of Tasmania Head of School, Creative Arts and Media, Meg Keating, said “anticipation and delight” was building in the countdown to the opening.

She said the custom-built facility was designed to accommodate students studying modern disciplines and said the campus would cater for future opportunities.

“It’s looking forward to tomorrow,” she said.

“We can’t even anticipate what the careers, the practices, the expressions we’re going to be moving towards, but the way it’s been built is flexible and adaptable.

“All of the spaces are able to be opened up to collaboration and flexibility.”

The Hedberg has three dedicated performance spaces. These are:

The Ian Potter Recital Hall – uses include orchestral recording, film, TV, and game score

production, innovative 3D sound design and performance, national and international real-

time recording collaboration, traditional performance and leading-edge sonic research;

The Salon is a technically advanced intimate performance space that will also be used

for film scoring sessions, collaborative research projects, traditional recording and

performance, theatrical presentations, and sonic research;

The Studio Theatre is a large black box-style theatre space managed by the Theatre Royal,

with the potential for integration into musical, theatrical, performative, and research

projects

The fully analog API ASX Legacy recording console is said to be the “heart of UTAS at the Hedberg” offering state-of-the-art audio capture to position UTAS at the “cutting edge”.

Students in the recording and rehearsal space will get experience in everything from real-world orchestral film scoring through to high art metal band productions.

MORE: HEDBERG A CUTTING EDGE FOR CREATIVES

Hedberg contemporary music lecturer Matt Boden said the new facility brought with it a wide range of music production opportunities.

“We could have an orchestra recording in the concert hall, in line with a metal band recording in The Salon. I’m still wrapping my head around how much flexibility we will have in this space. We can do whatever we want,” he said.

“I think it plays into Tasmania’s image as a boutique and bespoke purveyor in all things, whether it be fine whisky, or now, even better facilities for music. So I think Hedberg will be a drawcard for interstate and overseas students.”

UTAS’s new creative arts space will cater for about 2500 students, many of whom will have transferred their studies from the recently-closed Conservatorium of Music building on Sandy Bay Rd.

UTAS’s former music hub was bought in 2017 by Singaporean developer the Fragrance Group before a development application was submitted to Hobart City Council in November for 55 residential apartments.

Fragrance Group was contacted for comment.