To our incredible SVA community,

What a year, right? As you would have already read via our emails and socials, we will be closing our Kirrawee studios at the end of this term. But don't despair, we've got some amazing things planned. This page outlines how SVA will work moving forward - please note that the rest of the website is still being updated, and this page contains the most accurate information about 2021.

At SVA we've always been about people first, and money second. We have worked hard and made personal sacrifices to ensure that we offer our students excellent music tuition, in a well-maintained environment with professional-grade equipment. It has always been our priority to offer affordable and flexible options, and to provide respectful and fair working conditions for our staff. We have enjoyed being able to provide a high level of administrative support and to be accessible outside of lesson times, and we have endeavoured to offer inclusive, positive and affordable concerts where families can celebrate their children.

It has always been a challenge to juggle all these factors and to maintain some semblance of a balanced life for ourselves! But even the most experienced business owners could not have anticipated 2020. Like so many other businesses (especially in the arts), the practical and financial impact of COVID has permanently changed SVA and rendered our model untenable. Even today, we remain unable to use our full facility, and our student numbers have dropped to levels we've not seen for several years. To recreate what we had pre-COVID would have required difficult choices, whether that be to cram classes full of students, lower the quality of our facilities and equipment, significantly increase our lesson and concert ticket prices, or reduce our staffing budget. At the end of the day, these are compromises that we are unwilling to make, because it's important to us that we run our business with the best interests of our community as our number one priority. 

It has truly been a heartbreaking year, not just for us but for so many in our community and beyond.

However, out of the ashes, we have built a new model to take us into 2021 and beyond. It's one that we're really excited about, and that represents what we believe is a sustainable, accessible and flexible future for singing training.

Emerging from our experience of teaching tens of thousands of lessons over the past 15 years, and combining Tim's substantial experience as a professional singer with Lauren's current PhD research, we are building a brand new model of singing education that will develop and celebrate Australian voices and preserve the impressive legacy of Australian popular music.

Like all new things, there will be some tweaks along the way. In February, we will have a brilliant intern work with us as part of the APR Intern program for PhD researchers. Over six months, our intern will apply her research expertise in student-centred learning and the arts to help us ensure that SVA members enjoy high-quality digital content that propels them towards meeting their goals. We look forward to introducing her to our community in due course.

Moving into 2021, Billie and Freyja will be focused on new creative endeavours. They are both highly skilled musicians and talented teachers and we'll miss them! Lauren will continue to do some piano teaching, but will be focusing on SVA Membership content and her PhD studies, so won't be taking on new piano students. Tim, Laura and Lexy will continue to teach with SVA / SVA Network - you can read all about the details further down the page.

We are incredibly grateful for your support (not just this year but over the past 8 wonderful years), and we look forward to working with you into the future.

Tim & Lauren