Save Utas Arts Campaign
May 2025 - July 2025
The Campaign Begins
In May 2025, the University of Tasmania announced its intention to cut 13 full-time academic positions from the faculty of arts. These included teachers in Indonesian, German, Sociology, Fine Arts, Philosophy and Theatre.
As a theatre student and former Philosophy student myself, I was very concerned about these proposed changes. Many of my fellow students were also concerned about the impact this would have on their studies, as well as the cultural and educational impacts on Tasmania.
The University management advised they were holding a 4-week consultation period to get feedback about the proposed changes. This meant that we had an opportunity, within a short window, to gather together and get feedback for the University.
Creating Save Utas Arts
Within that window, I created a campaign – mostly run via social media – I called it “Save Utas Arts”. The intent behind it was two-fold:
First, to advise students and the wider community about proposed changes. It was clear from speaking to many that they weren’t even aware of the changes coming, and those who were aware, found it difficult to get clear information.
Second, to give those among the student body and wider community a clear way to voice their concerns directly to university exec. Although the university had set up feedback processes for staff, there were not clear systems in place for students or the broader community to give feedback.
I began with simply speaking with other students and asking them if they were aware of the cuts. Most weren’t.
Once students found out, they wanted to have their say. Many filmed themselves sharing their stories, which were then uploaded to the Instagram account. Several gave written quotes instead, which were also uploaded.
Giving people the space for sharing personal stories was a very powerful medium. It made the impact of the cuts real. Utas was talking in terms of “FTE Salaries” and “percentages of growth”. Students sharing their personal stories changed the conversation from one of depersonalised numbers to real people.
We had multiple people share their experiences at Utas studying art, Philosophy, theatre, languages and other subjects. Word began to spread, and the instagram account gained 300 followers in just its first two days.
Support Grows
As the instagram following grew, so did the attention and support. Some students wanted to help with the campaign. Given it was the study and exam period, many peoples’ time was limited. This made for a somewhat messy environment, with people stepping in and out of the campaign as their time would allow. Each time someone left or arrived, it required a new process of on-boarding them into what was happening, and what roles needed to be filled.
Even given these constraints, there was much enthusiasm for raising awareness and speaking out. We had people putting up posters, interviewing fellow students, sharing in classrooms, sending emails to the executive, creating petitions, calling in contacts, writing and recording songs about the cuts and sharing to their own social media accounts.
The Community Speaks Out
As momentum continued, student societies took notice. Theatre society Fawkes made a public statement opposing the cuts. Theatre society PLoT wrote a letter to the University executive, as did the Social Work Society. Prominent members of the broader community began to speak out, as did UTas alumni. The theatre and performance communities of both Hobart and Launceston were particularly vocal about support for the theatre course.
Media Attention
The media began to pay attention too. Over the next few weeks I facilitated multiple newspaper articles and radio interviews. I was able to connect students who wanted to speak out with interviewers keen to know what was happening, and share the message with the wider public. This in turn gave us a platform to share our campaign. The public was able to access our social media – and most importantly, the links to send emails to the executive and fill in petitions to stop the cuts.
Political Support
Several politicians also supported us. We received statements of support from Kristie Johnston MP, Andrew Wilkie MP and Meg Webb MLC. Others reached out to the utas exec directly to express concern (I won’t list them here as they did not make public submissions). I compiled these statements, along with letters from the community into a document to send to the UTas exec before the close of the consultation period.
Submission to the Exec
I compiled a comprehensive dataset from a survey I had created to gather information about peoples’ responses to the cuts.
This data showed the concern of students and community members, as well as major support for the arts school and teachers.
I included a petition that had received over 350 signatures in three days opposing the staff cuts.
These were all emailed to the Utas executive prior to the close of consultation.
Campaign Results
May – July 2025:
Social Media Engagement:
970 followers on Instagram
Media coverage:
7 newspaper articles (Mercury and Examiner)
4 radio interviews (ABC radio and LA FM)
2 TV interviews (7 Nightly News)
Statements of Support:
70+ on Instagram
16 from prominent public figures sent to Utas Executive
Survey and Petition:
134 responses to a community survey showing strong opposition to arts cuts
354 responses to a community petition to stop the cuts
After submitting the survey, petition and community statements of support to the UTas exec, they took another couple of weeks to announce their decision. The results of a campaign like this can be difficult to quantify in terms of how much, if any, of an effect the campaign had on the outcome of that decision.
Unfortunately, of the 13 jobs slated to be cut – the announcement was that 12 still would be. The only role that received a reprieve was Indonesian. Rumours were the Indonesian ambassador had stepped in to stop that cut, and then only for a six-month stay while the University sought other funding for the role. Whether those rumours are true, I have no idea.
However, there was one very significant change to the cuts. It was announced that no theatre staff would be cut. I would like to think that the significant public support from theatre companies , alumni and theatre students had some effect on this. I have heard from others in the community that they believe this to be the case, and that without this campaign theatre at the University of Tasmania may not have been saved. After all, we only had three theatre staff at the time of writing – cutting only one would have had a detrimental and possibly irreversibly damaging effect on the course.
I highlighted this win with a social media post, and by organising one last Mercury article.
Campaign Results
After The Campaign
After the campaign ended, I handed it onto other students. They rebranded the name to “reclaim utas”, but didn’t do much else with it. That account has now been switched back to “save utas arts”, and will be deleted shortly (possibly by the time you read this). I will likely make a post about this, as well as my experience working with other students, at another time. This is not the timing for that though. This post is to share the story of how save utas arts came to be, and what it achieved.
During the campaign, I organised multiple media articles and statements of support. I gathered a lot of attention for our cause and created a collaborative environment for students with varying amounts of time, energy and experience to work together. I I was able to use multiple methods of communication to connect with various stakeholders – including various messaging platforms, emails, phone and video calls and face to face meetings. I gathered data, analysed it and was able to present it in a clear and meaningful way.
I found that I have quite a talent for organising groups of people to create momentum and attention around something meaningful. I am looking forward to continuing using these skills to promote other events, causes and organisations.