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Vision, Mission, and Values The UQ School of Music’s vision is to be a global leader in university-embedded music creation, education, research and engagement; where musical art, learning and knowledge are interconnected, integrated and shared for a better world. The School of Music’s mission is to educate people who are prepared for music professions and are connected to the world of ideas. Our people create music and generate research that expands our understanding of music as art and as a social phenomenon. We engage in ways that elevate our students, share our knowledge and enrich our community. At the heart of the School of Music is a passion for music’s intrinsic value as art. Our community is motivated by a belief that music is an inherently positive and powerful contributor to human flourishing and our activities reflect the capacity for music-making to model a better world. A major musical performance by the UQSO and UQ Chorus, for example, can involve over a hundred performers (usually staff, students, alumni and partners together), cooperating over many months in pursuit of a common goal. At the performance itself, audience-participants join the performers, sometimes many hundreds of people in sum. These people gather in a communal setting to listen – mutual, respectful, reflective listening – a rare and powerful act in contemporary society. Music fosters connections and bonds through the powerful experience of interacting with another person’s feelings and perspectives. The relational experiences and knowledge that we create and share with others can, ideally, help shape a better future in both large and small ways through the cultivation of understanding and empathy. Music, as a performing art, has the power to challenge, celebrate and educate all co-participants in social praxis, helping to shape who we are and who we strive to be as individuals and a society. These contributions inform our values, which also reflect UQ’s values of Creativity, Excellence, Truth, Integrity, Courage, Respect and Inclusivity.
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