education specific to the culture of Indigenous Australians include the Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts, NAISDA Dance College, Blak Dance, Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, and the Aboriginal Dance Theatre Redfern. The Aboriginal Centre for the Performing Arts, run out of the Judith Wright Arts Centre in Brisbane, Queensland, is the only educational organisation that offers all disciplines of the performing arts focussing on Indigenous Australian culture. All Indigenous-identified schools in Australia are run on the principles of self-determination and self-management with Indigenous culture, history and values at their core. Notable performing arts educators Sir Bernard Thomas Heinze Born on 1 July 1894, Sir Bernard Thomas Heinze was most known as an Australian conductor and the Director of the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music. He was regarded as a pioneer in the industry as he saw the advantages of performing arts organisations providing educational products. Inspired by the successes of orchestral concerts for children in New York, Heinze developed the first Australian concert for children in Melbourne on 12 October 1924. Dame Peggy van Praagh Born on 1 September 1910, Dame Peggy van Praagh was best known as a British ballet dancer and an advocate for dance education in Australia later in her career. With the help of Bernard James of the University of New England, Van Praagh founded several dance summer schools that were influential to shaping Australia's approach on dance education. She also assisted in forming the advocacy body, Ausdance (formerly Australian Association for Dance Education). Van Praagh became the coordinator of dance studies at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Edith Cowan University, Perth in 1982. Shirley McKechnie Born in 1926, Shirley McKechnie is regarded as an Australian pioneer of contemporary dance in her dancing, choreographing, directing, and educating activities. In 1945, McKechnie founded her first dance school with the support of the Ferntree Gully Arts Society. She opened a second school in Beaumaris, Melbourne in 1955, which became the foundation for her career as a teacher, choreographer, and dance director. In 1963, McKechnie established the Australian Contemporary Dance Theatre, where she was the director and main choreographer for its first 10 years. After graduating from Monash University, McKechnie created and coordinated the first degree course in dance studies at an Australian tertiary institution, which was offered at Rusden College (now Deakin University) in 1975. As an advocate for dance education, McKechnie co-founded