The Northern College of the Arts and Technology (NCAT) is a senior college devoted to exposing the creative side of students.

The staff members at the college, not to be mistaken for just an ordinary college, believe in multiple types of intelligence that includes arts, technology, trade, design and innovation. These students who have a passion for the arts are taught by esteemed staff members who are experts in their field. I had the opportunity to talk to one of these teachers, Bon Nardella who has been with the college for 13 years. During this time he was the Head of Music and Musical Instrument Making (between 2009 and 2014). He has come from a varied background including being a music teacher, a composer and an artist who actually makes and repairs instruments. Bon now concentrates on Musical Instrument Making exclusively. Recently, he, with other members from NCAT, created an event called ‘The Makers and Players Guitar Expo’.

‘The Makers and Players Guitar Expo was put together with the idea to bring together people who are independent makers, manufacturers, designers, suppliers of material, and also people who have a general interest in creating.’

The expo is a chance for people to come and see what the college offers and also to give students’ a.k.a the ‘makers’ a chance to show off their creative talents. The ‘players’ in this expo are the artists who come in and perform for the audience. These artists include Rebecca Bernard from last year who was accompanied by the Rockwiz Orchestra.

These artists perform covers but quite often they also play ‘pieces of music which are original, in most instances, created by students’.

‘Our aim with the expo was to expand and bring in some different people, and to try and get a different part of the community to come and be involved. We wanted to try and hit a different part of the market rather than just the converted people who are part of the industry anyway. We want a few more novices to come and be a part of it.’

For Bon, it’s simply about educating the people that don’t know about what goes on behind the scenes.

‘Not everybody knows that instruments are not necessarily manufactured. They can actually be made by a craftsman. Some people think that there’s nobody behind the making of instruments, only the machines that throw them together. So for me, it’s all to bring the human element into perspective.’

But this college isn’t just about creating and holding events. It’s still a college with the same basic curriculum that you’d expect. It starts at year 10 and continues through to year 12.

‘We do our standard VCE subjects like all the other schools but we’re mainly arts focused.

‘We do have a technology facility where we have pre-apprentices who study trades here such as automotive, furniture making, electro-technology and building and construction.’

The college has expanded further than senior school also offering a gateway to university and TAFE courses. They offer diplomas and certificate 4 courses in a wide range of subjects including music, instrument making, photographic imaging and sport recreation.

There doesn’t seem to be any age limit for the students at this college. There’s one course where teachers help students to prepare and create a folio.

‘We’re also here for older people, who have been out of the education system and the work force for a while.

‘We’ve also made the courses industry standard. For example, the sport and recreation team work with the Australian Football League to help recruit and train new umpires for the AFL.’

They want to send a message to all the kids out there who might be struggling to concentrate on their own personal learning.

‘We need to be able to engage on many levels.Not all students are engaged in education so we’ve got to find new ways and new angles of exciting them.

‘We need to show them that education is the way forward, by putting in courses that don’t exist elsewhere. Hopefully that’ll capture the imagination of a particular sort of student and to give them a vehicle towards moving forward, whether that’s into employment or just further study.’

I found myself intrigued by this school. I wish that I had known about this institution when I was younger. If only my parents had known?

The Northern College for the Arts and Technology is a school that specialises in allowing students to explore their creative abilities.

‘I mean we’ve basically designed the place as a school that we would want to attend.’

When I told Bon that NCAT sounded like a school that I would’ve been interested in attending, he laughed and said ‘yeah, me too!’

This year (2015), the expo will showcase all of the courses that are taught at the college including PIC (Photographic Imaging College), music, folio preparation, create and musical instrument making and repair.