They have an eye for colour and symbolism. Which is why many National Art School students and advocates have orange T-shirts in the back of their wardrobes.

They donned them, with a nod to Ukraine's Orange Revolution, for a protest a couple of years ago. But they won't be throwing them out just yet, according to Michael Burfield, the treasurer of the lobby group Friends of the National Art School.

"Cautiously optimistic" is Burfield's response to this week's announcement by the NSW Education Minister, Verity Firth, that the National Art School will - finally - become independent.