Behind the curtain of the Media and Communication course

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By 2026 Media and Communication Fellow Amanda Wong

Q+A with Andrew Aronowicz and Bridget Hutchinson

For many years, AYO has been producing generations of excellent musicians and performers. But not only that—it has been quietly nurturing successful leaders in the arts, composers, arts administrators, concert and radio presenters, producers, sound engineers, writers and more through its unique non-orchestral programs.

In this edition of Behind the Curtain, we take you behind the scenes of AYO’s Media and Communication course (affectionately referred to as MACcers). Graduates of the course have gone on to write, produce and present worldwide at places like ABC Classic, Limelight, CutCommon, Stringendo and more. It boasts an enviable list of alumni, including Megan Burslem (ABC Classic), Stephanie Eslake (Founding editor of CutCommon), Sascha Kelly (Content director, ABC Classic and Jazz), 2027 course tutor Andrew Aronowicz (former program producer, ABC Classic) and many, many more.

Partway through the 2026 National Music Camp, I had the pleasure of interviewing MAC participant Bridget Hutchinson and tutor Andrew Aronowicz about the program and their experience. Here’s what they had to say:

What sort of content do participants learn in the Media and Communication course?

Bridget (participant): I’ve been learning so much. We’re looking at all the different parts that make up communicating about this art form that we love so much. We’ve been learning how to improve our program notes, how to present, how to do pre-concert talks, and some radio stuff—that’s been really exciting.

Andrew (tutor): The Media and Communications course at AYO National Music Camp is a rich experience—you get the opportunity to try lots of different things and get out of your comfort zone by interviewing people, reviewing concerts, presenting concerts live if you’d like, exploring video production and audio production—telling all kinds of stories about what’s going on here at National Music Camp and in Australia’s classical music scene.

How do you feel now compared to the first day of camp?

Bridget: Despite the fact that we’ve been doing so much work here, there’s just so much energy and excitement. I feel somehow just as excited as the first moment I stepped foot onto campus because it’s just been such an inspiring, energetic place to work in. I’m so sad that it’s almost over—we have like three days left!

Take us into the world of Media and Communication here at NMC. What does a typical day look like for a participant?

Andrew: A day in the life of a Media and Communication participant; that can look and feel very different depending on the day and on projects we’ve got on the go. Usually, it will start with us meeting at home base up on level 4 in the Schulz building where we like to meet and talk through what we’ve all got going on; what projects we’re working on, the interviews we’re lining up, the talent—all of that sort of thing. It’s also where I’ve been hosting workshops—so learning about the craft of storytelling, about classical music, learning about how to use audio to tell interesting stories, learning about the art of the review or presentation skills to do your best when you’re on stage in front of a live audience.

And then the rest of the day is going out and collecting those stories because we’re trying to share what happens at National Music Camp with the full AYO audience—we want to make sure that we’re talking to participants, we’re talking to tutors, we’re talking to the conductors and the creative director to make sure that all those stories are being shared.

Can you tell us a bit about the skills that participants can gain from doing the Media and Communication course?

Andrew: One of the things that’s really great about this course that connects more broadly with having a career in classical music (whatever that looks and sounds like), [is that] this course is all about communication and connecting with people—connecting with the audience, connecting with the musicians, connecting with the composers, the people who make the music, connections with people behind the scenes who make all of that happen. One of the most important skills I think in the workplace (whether that’s as a classical musician or in any workplace), is being a great communicator; knowing how to talk to people, knowing how to write, knowing how to express your thoughts in a way that’s persuasive and convincing or compelling and interesting or that tells an interesting story that draws people into what you’re doing. I think it’s those broad communication skills that are invaluable—no matter where you decide to go in life—and I believe that you can develop those here in the media and communication course at National Music Camp for sure.

What is something you’ve really enjoyed learning so far in the course?

Bridget: I really enjoyed learning about radio. I think it’s something that we don’t really get to look at as much in the day to day or in schools as much. Because learning how to write tends to be part of your tertiary and secondary schooling; learning how to present—you will do that naturally—and of course presenting those things in the ways that we need to for camp are very specialised, and it’s been fantastic getting information and clarity on how to do those for this specific medium. But for something like radio—when you go through uni that’s not really something you ever touch on. Being able to go to the ABC Classic studios and meet Russell Torrance and see him do his thing—it was so cool. I really, really enjoyed that.

Can you tell us a little bit about some of the challenges and rewards that course participants might experience here at NMC?

Andrew: There are lots of challenges and also rewards that you can experience if you do the National Music Camp Media and Communications course. Some of the challenges include getting out and talking to people that you’ve never met before; interviewing them to get those stories that we need to tell. We need to go out of our comfort zone; talking to a world class conductor or a world class musician, the tutors even, young people in these amazing orchestras that are rehearsing for these two weeks. That takes some skill and some guts [and] you have to get yourself ready for that. That could be interviewing them for a story, or it might be interviewing them live on stage, so I think that’s one of the big challenges.

Another big challenge is the workload—we love to get lots of stuff done here. The way that we’ve been doing it is so that you can choose your own journey. You can research and tell the stories that are of interest to you, but managing all of the different things— making sure you’re meeting those deadlines for your review, for your blog post, making sure that you’ve got your script ready for your onstage presentation, making sure that you’re ready for your interview with your talent, you’ve got all your questions organised—all of that takes some important planning.

But I think the big payoff of doing a course like this is the confidence that you get once you just get out there and actually start talking to people. You start researching those stories, you start digging a little bit deeper and by doing it, you actually realise this is something that I could maybe go out and do in the real world outside of camp. And I’m hoping that this year’s participants are feeling that sense of confidence that they can do this.

How has your experience been working with the Media and Communication tutor, Andrew Aronowicz?

Bridget: I feel so, so lucky to have him as our tutor—he’s just been so fantastic. I mean aside from being this absolute wealth of knowledge and experience in all these different areas and having the work in the years to really back that up, he’s also just such a genuinely lovely, kind and understanding person, and really knows the best ways to support and help us really reach our potential and get out our best work.

What qualities do you look for in prospective Media and Communication participants?

Andrew: If you’re at home and you’re wondering, “hmm Media and Communications, talking about music, communicating about music to people—is this something that I can do?”, well if you first of all love sharing music and talking about it with your friends, or writing about it, you find that you listen to a piece of music and it just inspires these thoughts that you have to get down onto paper or that you have to blog about or that you have to create a video essay about—this is your course. There are so many ways that people are communicating about music and classical music more broadly and more generally and I think that is so exciting that once upon a time maybe this course maybe would have seemed a bit frightening for people if they didn’t feel like they could necessarily, you know, write the most academic essay, but actually that’s not what this course is about. It’s great if you do have academic writing skills but what we’re more interested in is in forging that connection with audiences, and sharing about music in all of the different forms in lots of different ways.

We have people this year at the 2026 camp who are interested in audio, in live presenting, in video essays, in writing, in social media, in all of these different ways—and all of those are valid so I think that if you’ve got a burning need inside of you to kind of share ideas that you have or connect people with the music through communication in all of its forms, then I hope you feel that this course is for you.

What is something that you hope that all participants (current and future) take away from the course?

Andrew: Something that I really hope that participants will take away from this course is a sense of how they can connect with the audience. For classical music, there are so many people out there who love it, and they come in all different shapes, sizes and ages—and our job in media and communication is to connect with them.

We’ve got to share the stories that mean something for them, and we’ve got to find a way of bringing them into this amazing world [of classical music]. I really hope that our MACCERS, if you do this course that you can feel like you can make a connection with that audience whether you’re live onstage, whether it’s through a written article, whether it’s through an audio piece, or a video piece you’ve created or social media. Whatever the medium or the media; I’m hoping that you feel like you know you can connect with the audience and welcome in as many people as possible because we need it [in] the classical music industry here in Australia.

What can the future look like for Media and Communication participants?

Andrew: You might be wondering “where can I go with a course like this? What does the future hold if I look into media and communications and classical music?”

Well, there are so many different pathways and I might use my own experience to illustrate this point: I was a AYO National Music Camp media and communications participant or “words about music” participant (that’s what it used to be called). After I did that course, that just really opened things up for me. I went and did internships at a magazine that communicates about classical music, I had time interning at the ABC at Radio National on the music show, I had opportunities to do pre-concert talks for different orchestras and write reviews—all sorts of different things. Eventually for me, it led to a job at ABC Classic where I was a producer working with the top music broadcasters here in Australia and I think that this kind of career can go anywhere; it’s all about how flexible you’re prepared to be, how creative you’re prepared to be to try different things because really it is about exploring all the different avenues. I think that if you see yourself whether it’s in radio, or it’s in arts administration, or even if you’re a performer or a composer and you want to build your skills to be able to communicate about what you do, then you know that future can look and feel like whatever you want it to do. I hope that this year’s MACCERS feel like they’re ready to start applying for those opportunities, to start getting even more experience and building their skill set.

Is there anything you’d like to say to anyone who is considering on applying for the Media and Communication course?

Bridget: To anybody thinking of applying for the media and communications course, I’d just say, “do it”. Of course, make sure that you’re really passionate about music—because I think that if this is something that you know that you love and really really really enjoy, then you’re gonna have just the absolute best time and it’s also just a great thing to have as a feather in your cap for anyone. Highly recommend it :)

Andrew: If you’re not sure whether media and communications is something for you, go online to the AYO website and have a read and a listen to all the amazing content that the MACCERS have been producing at this year’s camp—it’s truly exceptional. I’m so proud of how they have developed their skills and broadened and extended themselves to create lots of interesting content and tell interesting stories—that should give you a really strong idea of what we do here at camp. Also get in touch with them, get in touch with the AYO—find out more about the course and hopefully you’ll be putting in an application very soon.

Applications for the 2027 Sound Production course are open until 3 August. For more information and portfolio requirements, click here.