About us

Australian Catholic University (ACU) is a dynamic, modern Catholic university with a deep and abiding commitment to culture. Drawing on the long and rich heritage of the Catholic Church as a patron of the arts, we support and engage in a wide array of arts and cultural activities. These simultaneously reflect the University’s unique Catholic mission and vision while strengthening our identity as an ambitious and vibrant intellectual community.

In recent years, ACU has invested significantly in developing our reputation in arts and culture with several exciting new initiatives. For example, we have:

• appointed our inaugural art curator to support the acquisition, cataloguing, display and conservation of the outstanding ACU Art Collection across our eight campuses
• established two nationally significant cultural awards – the ACU Prize for Poetry and the Isabel Menton Composition Prize for musical composition – to expand our cultural footprint in Australia and internationally
• strengthened our national choir program to enhance liturgical and cultural life on our campuses and beyond
• launched the ACU Special Collection, which is a historical archive of books, manuscripts and artefacts relating to the history of the Catholic Church in Australia.

These initiatives – and others you will discover on the ACU Arts and Culture Hub  – will be complemented by new initiatives as we develop our arts and culture strategy in the coming years.

As a leading Catholic university, artistic and cultural distinction is an indispensable part of our future. We invite you to explore our hub and welcome your engagement with arts and culture at ACU.