Christmas came early for seven QUT visual artists who have exhibited works in New York, the world's most lucrative art scene, before they've even graduated.
In a move designed to make them career-ready creatives, each visual arts student teamed up with a peer from Fordham University in New York, with each pair choosing only one communication channel through which to collaborate.
"Facebook was a great medium for my partner and I to use - it's very easy to get to know someone through the platform," said third-year visual arts student Miriam Khalil, who collaborated with Fordham's C. Sarah Stafford.
"We discovered we both love filmmaker Tommy Wiseau and we started trading his quotes over Facebook.
"That common interest led to our exhibition pieces, in which we mashed images of historical figures with outlandish Wiseau quotes, attributing those words to the historical figures.
"I feel really privileged for this opportunity to exhibit in Fordham's gallery in the heart of New York and work with other emerging artists."
Fordham University is one of QUT's global partners. Fordham visual arts lecturer Casey Ruble organised the exhibition, Suspension Points, which was opened by Australian diplomat Kathryn Deyell.
Developing strong collaboration skills is key to a successful creative career, which is why QUT Creative Industries Faculty and Fordham lecturers set each pair the difficult task of using only one communication method.
The artists' resulting works explored the vagaries of communication in contemporary life, and how long-distance correspondence can both help and hinder the creative process.
QUT visual arts lecturer Dr Mark Pennings said the exhibition was a highlight of the Creative Industries Faculty's NYC Creative Cities Study Tour, an elective unit that introduces students from all creative industries disciplines to the world's largest 'creative city'.
"New York is perhaps the world's most famous and influential creative city and the tour and exhibition exposes our students to the breadth of state-of-the-art creative practice there," Dr Mark Pennings said.
"They get to understand how cultural industries operate in New York by directly experiencing the scene, participating in it and talking to the people who have built careers in that city and who might eventually hire these students - it's a real intel-gathering exercise for students' future careers."
Overseas experiences are one of the secrets to QUT's success in producing career-ready creatives.
QUT Dance is unique among like Australian institutions in taking undergraduates overseas to perform as a matter of course.
These experiences are offered through the Creative Industries' suite of CI Project Units. Dance students are involved in the creative development of the overseas performances, and are assessed on their participation, creative contribution and performance outputs.
QUT's Head of Discipline - Dance, Associate Professor Gene Moyle, said this year's tour involved student performances in France and China.
The opportunity led to an invitation for top third-year students Natalie Kolobaric and Cloudia Elder to perform excerpts from QUT's DANCE14 show at Singapore's prestigious M1 Contact Contemporary Arts Festival, within the Continuum Dance Exchange program.
"Opportunities like these, to be part of international festivals, are the icing on the cake for our students," Professor Moyle said.
"We emphasise that to have global careers our students must make global connections.
"Study tours expose our dancers to the many styles of artistic directors, choreographers and teachers around the world, and it's amazing what doors can open for them.
"Some of the students have been invited to audition for new productions as a result of that international exposure."
Dancers Natalie and Cloudia performed in the Continuum Dance Exchange on 30th November.
The visual artists have now completed their study tour and will exhibit Suspension Points in Brisbane in the new year.
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