SA Government James Morrison Music Academy contract: Morrison falls short of government-mandated enrolments

When the opening of the James Morrison Academy of Music @ UniSA was announced in October 2014, Jay Weatherill, then the Premier of South Australia, was quick to publicly predict a large student body. “Once [the Academy is] established, Mr. Morrison is forecasting an annual intake of 70 students building to a potential student body of up to 200 students by 2020,” Weatherill said.

The James Morrison Academy of Music was awarded $500,000 by the State Government of South Australia to enable its opening and the offering of a Diploma of Music to students, as announced in October 2014. Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) records show the Academy is a for-profit business, owned privately by James Morrison.

The State Government funding awarded to the James Morrison Academy came after closures of VET music courses elsewhere in South Australia. Over 80 students at the TAFE SA Noarlunga campus in Adelaide’s southern suburbs and at the University of Adelaide were affected after the State Government cut funding for vocational music courses in 2013.

After four years in operation, student numbers at the James Morrison Academy of Music have shifted little from the initial 50 that were enrolled when the Academy opened in March 2015. A post on the University of South Australia Mount Gambier Campus Facebook page showed just 15 new James Morrison Academy of Music students attending Orientation Week earlier this year. UniSA would not confirm new enrolment numbers in 2019, stating instead “There are currently around 60 students enrolled in UniSA programs offered through JMA.”

Conditions for the $500,000 government grant were outlined in a contract established between the James Morrison Academy of Music Pty Ltd and the SA State Government, drafted after the announcement of the funding in October 2014. A final version of that contract, released under Freedom of Information laws, shows that special conditions were placed on the funding, including James Morrison meeting targets for student numbers. Other requirements were that Morrison managed the Academy in a “competent and professional manner” and “devoted sufficient time and attention to personally teaching students of the Academy, as well as participating in the ongoing management and promotion of the Academy, to the extent reasonably necessary to ensure that [he] is able to attract and retain a sustainable number of students on the basis of [his] reputation.”

Despite the Premier’s 2014 projections, the State Government set lower expectations for student numbers within their contract with James Morrison. Meeting the conditions of the contract would have required a sudden influx of 100 students between 2019 and 2020 to reach a cohort of 200 students at the Academy by 2020.

Special conditions in the contract required the Academy to meet or exceed student number targets of 70 students in 2017, 80 students in 2018, and 100 students in 2019. Despite public announcements that the James Morrison Academy would be opening with 50 students in 2015, the Government’s contractual target was just 30 students in 2015, increasing to 50 in 2016.

A spokesperson for the Department of the Premier and Cabinet would not comment on what actions the Government had taken to evaluate whether James Morrison had met the conditions of the contract, stating only that the funding agreement “[was] evaluated in line with its terms and conditions.”

The funding period for the contract ended on June 30, 2019, at which point the James Morrison Academy was required to provide a “report on the level of any unexpended funding” and repay any unexpended funds to the Government, unless the company received written approval from the SA Arts Minister advising that they could retain the money.

An October 2014 email appears to show Judi Morrison, James Morrison’s wife, offering a prospective student full admission to the Academy outside of usual university admission and application processes required of other prospective students.

The email, signed with Judi Morrison’s name from a James Morrison Academy email address, shows an immediate offer of acceptance to the Academy being made despite the prospective student not having undergone any audition processes. “Thankyou for your interest in attending the James Morrison Academy of Music,” the email reads. “Normally the next step in the process would be to arrange an audition, however both James and Graeme Lyall (Director of Studies) have heard you play and have decided an audition is not necessary in your case. You will find attached a letter of offer.”

The young musician, who subsequently did not accept the offer to study at the Academy, stated that in the years that have passed since, the offer has struck them as unusual as they were unsure of how James Morrison Academy staff could have heard evidence of their musical ability. “I hadn’t posted anything [online] of myself playing in 2014…the only way they [James Morrison Academy staff] could have heard me was in person, but I don’t know where/when they would have done that. It think I would have been aware if they were in the audience at a gig I was playing due to their fame.”

The James Morrison Academy of Music did not respond to a request for comment.