Dr Kristina Kelman
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Creative Practice,
Music
Biography
Dr Kristina Kelman is a senior lecturer in music at the Queensland University of Technology, Australia, a jazz musician, educator, and community music facilitator. Her book, Music Entrepreneurship: Professional Learning in Schools and the Industry was published in 2020, focusing on entrepreneurial learning. Kristina leads a range of student-led enterprises including Australia’s first University record label, Vermilion Records, that has released and exposed over 130 independent artists both locally and internationally. Her work with First Languages Australia on a language project through original song, Yamani: Voices of an Ancient Land, resulted in a full-length album, Australian curriculum materials, and a documentary featured throughout 2016 on QANTAS in-flight entertainment. Since 2015, with successful grant funding, Kristina has coordinated an intensive recording program and music entrepreneurship education project in Chennai, India, which produces an album of original music by emerging independent artists each year.https://kristinakelman.com/
Personal details
Positions
- Senior Lecturer
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Creative Practice,
Music
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy (Queensland University of Technology)
- Master of Music Studies (Griffith University)
- Postgraduate Diploma in Education (University of Queensland)
- Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice (Queensland University of Technology)
- Bachelor of Arts (Music) (Queensland University of Technology)
Professional memberships and associations
Executive Board Member (Secretary)
Association for Popular Music Education (APME)
International Society for Music Education (ISME)
Commission for the Education of the Professional Musician (CEPROM)
Music Teachers Association Queensland (MTAQ)
Australian National Association for Teachers of Singing (ANATS)
Music and Entertainment Industries Educators Association (MEIEA)
Teaching
Senior Lecturer (2015 - Present)
Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
Senior Lecturer, MA Music Industry Management and Artist Development Course Leader (2021 - 2023)
University of West London, Ealing, United Kingdom
Sessional Lecturer in Teacher Education (2012 - 2014)
Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
Sessional Lecturer in Music (2007-2014)
Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
Queensland Academy for Creative Industries (2007 - 2014)
Education Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Experience
Vermilion Records:
Vermilion Records, a student-run record label based at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, is celebrating its sixth year of operation, demonstrating its longevity and sustainability in providing students with real-world learning opportunities. The label showcases the collaborative efforts of students from various disciplines, including music production, film, entertainment, design, visual art, drama, and business. These students work together to support and promote artists from the Brisbane area, releasing their music on major streaming platforms. In 2023, the record label continued to network with local venues and expanded into two new venues, including running its first full day music festival at Ric's Backyard in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley, and held several smaller acoustic events at the End Bar in West End. The students booked, curated and event-managed approximately 11 Vermilion events in 2023, and booked their artists for several more external support slots and external events. The team produced two more issues of Vermilion magazine, 5 feature music video clips and over 16 live-in studio music videos. The content creators worked tirelessly on another new merchandise line, and a range of artwork for the artists' single releases, live events and other short form content for social media kept the team busy. The sustained growth and expansion of Vermilion Records over the past six years highlights its ability to adapt and thrive in the ever-changing music industry, while consistently offering students valuable hands-on experience in various aspects of music production, promotion, and entrepreneurship.
Vermilion High:
Music education in Australian high schools has traditionally followed a classroom-based approach, often focusing on theoretical and historical concepts, with limited practical applications in industry-facing contexts. This approach may not adequately prepare students for the rapidly evolving music industry or provide them with real-world experiences. Recognising this gap, the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) has developed an innovative program called Vermilion High, now in its fourth year. This program aims to bridge the gap between high school and university music education by offering talented high school students the opportunity to work with QUT students across various disciplines, including music production, creative industries, visual arts, film, and technical production, to produce an album of original music, with a strategic release campaign, and additional promotional assets such as an electronic press kit, publicity material, music videos and other shortform media content.
Indie 100 India:
This project builds on the success of a QUT-funded project called the Indie 100 (2009-2015) – recording and promotion of independent artists in a week-long publicly visible event. For both QUT and Indian students, the project serves as an intensive ‘classroom’ for students and brings them in contact with the intensity of a commercial production environment. Over a two-week period, students curate four live shows featuring Australia-India musical collaborations. They coordinate and capture the Indie100 recording event, working in assistant recording-producer roles and as session musicians. Music business students are responsible for the promotion and digital release of the album. The project is founded on the belief that the future of music education in the H.E Sector relies on a system of experiential facilitations that lead to the development of sustainable communities of practice among teachers, students, local musicians and industry. The collaboration exposes musicians to new practices, new audiences and new knowledge, and the high intensity environment gives students a real-world experience that will hopefully make them work-ready, entrepreneurial and resilient.
Publications
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Kristina, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Supervision
Current supervisions
- Site-specific song for multiple voices: a choral approach to environmental sound and songwriting
PhD, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Jane Turner - Take a Sad Song and Make It Better: Considerations for Songwriting Instruction
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Gavin Carfoot, Adjunct Professor Erica McWilliam - If Only These Steel Strings Could Talk: Building a Narrative of the People, Production and Pedagogy of the Pedal Steel Guitar in Australia
PhD, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Yanto Browning - Cross-cultural collaboration through the improvised music of different spiritual traditions
MPhil, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Andrea Morris-Campbell