All Posts Tagged With: "art school"
Emily Carr eyes new campus
Will study moving
Emily Carr campus by sashafatcat on Flickr
British Columbia has provided $1.7 million to create a business plan for moving Emily Carr University of Art and Design to a new location in Vancouver’s east on Great Northern Way.
The 1,800-student school is currently on Granville Island, a very desirable area near downtown.
Advanced Education Minister Naomi Yamamoto noted how crowded the school has become when she made the announcement on Monday.
The news comes just after B.C. released its 2012 budget, which includes a $70-million cut to higher education over the next three years.
“While we’re exercising spending restraint across government and asking our public post-secondary institutions to find administrative efficiencies, we’re also providing carefully considered, responsible investments,” Yamamoto said in a release of the funding for Emily Carr.
A cluster of educational institutes including the University of British Columbia’s Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory and the British Columbia Institute of Technology’s Centre for Architectural Ecology are already located on Great Northern Way.
Although Emily Carr has an increasing number of applications, other Canadian art schools are struggling to attract students. Queen’s University’s Fine Arts program was recently suspended.
Provincial government to cover NSCAD’s deficit
Nova Scotia to give university $2.4 million following financial report
Photo of NSCAD Port Campus courtesy of Rory Hyde on Flickr
The Nova Scotia government announced Tuesday it will cover the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design’s $2.4-million deficit if the school submits a financial plan detailing cost-cutting measures by March 31.
The move follows the release of a 13-page report by former deputy minister Howard Windsor on NSCAD’s financial outlook. The report, released Tuesday, says the 125-year-old school is in “serious financial trouble” and will struggle to accept new students next fall without receiving help.
“NSCAD today is operating at a loss equal to more than 10 per cent of it’s annual budget,” the report says. “The situation is not sustainable.”
Both the province and NSCAD accepted all eight of Windsor’s recommendations, which included giving the school $2.4 million under certain conditions. In the report, Windsor also suggests the university review its programs and spaces on its three campuses and look at ways to collaborate with other post-secondary schools. Windsor did not recommend that NSCAD merge with another school in his report, but he didn’t rule it out either.
It’s a rough time for arts schools: Queen’s University suspended enrolment to its Bachelor of Fine Arts program in November, citing a lack of resources. On Nov. 10, The Council of Ontario Universities disclosed that Fine Arts graduates from the class of 2008 had the lowest average salary of 2010.
It’s a rough time to be a Bachelor of Fine Arts
Few jobs. Shut programs. How art schools are adapting.
Artist photo by chadmagiera on Flickr
Christina McKenzie is pretty typical of Bachelor of Fine Arts graduates these days. She doesn’t regret taking a BFA at York University (2005). She’s grateful for the four years she spent exploring photography, bronze-casting, painting, drawing, book-making, sculpture and art history.
But there’s another part of her that wishes she’d taken something more focused, like photography or design, perhaps. Had she done that, who knows where she’d be?
McKenzie had planned to become an art teacher after her BFA. She was even accepted to a teacher’s college, but deferred it. She’s very glad she did. At least a quarter of her art school colleagues went on to teacher’s college. Many can’t find jobs. In fact, two-thirds of new teaching graduates in Ontario can’t find work as teachers.
Continue reading It’s a rough time to be a Bachelor of Fine Arts
Queen’s suspends fine arts program
Budget is to blame
Artist photo by savrae on Flickr.
Queen’s University is suspending enrolment to its Bachelor of Fine Arts program, citing a lack of resources, rather than a lack of enrollments, reports the Globe and Mail. The 107 students currently in the program have been assured they’ll be able to finish their degrees, but there won’t be any new students taken in 2012-2013. This year, 30 students enrolled—the program’s capacity. Last year, the program attracted 50 per cent more students than capacity. But the program, with small classes and special classrooms, is expensive to run.
Due to similar budget pressures, the University of Windsor is suspending its popular but expensive-to-offer Music Therapy program as of 2012.
Fine Arts programs have had declining enrollments in recent years. Four per cent fewer students from Ontario secondary schools entered Fine Arts programs this September, despite enrollment that was up 1.7 overall, according to the Ontario Universities’ Application Centre. The Council of Ontario Universities also revealed yesterday that Fine Arts graduates from the class of 2008 had the lowest average salary in 2010, earning $34,653 on average, compared to $49,469 overall.
