The School of Creative Arts (SoCA) celebrated its creation with an interactive launch party last Friday. The new school is a merger of the art history, media arts, theatre, and visual arts (VA) departments to promote and encourage interdisciplinary work across the arts at UFV.
In 2017 the College of Creative Arts council voted to officially begin plans to create the school. The school was approved by the Senate in February 2019 and officially came into being in May.
Heather Davis-Fisch has been appointed director of the new school after being associate professor of English and theatre, and theatre department head at UFV.
The merger came about, according to Davis-Fisch, because faculty in the arts and theatre departments saw connections between what they were doing.
Both the VA and theatre departments at UFV can be considered non-traditional. The arts are not strictly traditional disciplines like painting and sculpting, and theatre is not strictly stage performance. VA and theatre at UFV often take a unique approach, incorporating technology and cross-disciplinary work into their courses and art.
“We’re much more interested in experimenting and looking at how to push the edges of what theatre is, and I think the visual arts faculty are doing the same,” Davis-Fisch said. “The merger of the two areas probably wouldn’t work as well if the two areas weren’t really open to looking at interdisciplinary connections and more experimentation than some programs might.”
Bringing the disciplines together should facilitate the already present cross-disciplinary work between theatre and the arts at UFV. In November, the theater department will be putting on a performance in the S’eliyemetaxwtexw Art Gallery, where one person in a group of friends buys a completely white painting and sparks an argument.
“This week one of our faculty came in and was really excited because for their still-life class, they’re able to use props from theatre as the still-life props rather than going and buying Lovaza flowers,” Davis-Fisch said.
The main changes students should see are more unique opportunities and flexibility in courses. Minors and majors in the programs will, at the moment, remain the same, but there are a number of courses being cross-listed.
“For students, I think that the creation of the school will let them really see the interconnections between the different areas in ways that might not be clear if you’re taking a course just in one area of one of the programs,” Davis-Fisch said.
The major changes will come at an administrative level, with the goal to transition into the school with minimal disruption to students. There have been changes to staff roles within the new school and the creation of some new positions, including director of the school. Previously, there were separate department heads for theatre and VA. There will also be the physical movement of offices within the school to merge the departments together.
The timetable will also be planned as one school. Davis-Fisch said this will enable similar classes in the different departments to be scheduled at the same time so professors can coordinate on projects. Rooms will also be used more effectively, and scheduling classes in specific rooms for the time they need that room will be easier with all the departments as one unit.
During planning for the school, five main areas of focus were chosen to facilitate the interdisciplinary nature of the school. The areas of focus have been formed into committees within the school: creative practice; critical studies; digital media technologies; equity, human rights, and inclusion; and external engagement.
“A number of committees within the school are very explicitly interdisciplinary so that we would get people from different areas working together on projects,” Davis-Fisch said.
The faculty and staff have been drafting vision, values, and mission statements for the school.
The SoCA launch party
The SoCA launch party, Davis-Fisch said, is just one example of how having the VA and theatre departments as one unit will bring more opportunities for fun events.
The event was held on Friday, Sept. 27 from 5:30-8 p.m. at UFV, in Building C, Building B, and Building D.
The evening featured food, drinks, music by CIVL Radio, and interactive workshops hosted by the faculty of the new school and alumni of the VA and theatre departments.
Attendees of the launch party were invited to participate in the workshops, which ranged from learning to stage punch to painting for beginners.
The S’eliyemetaxwtexw Art Gallery was also open, showcasing its new exhibit “I went to art school.” The exhibit had UFV faculty and staff artwork alongside student and alumni work to “demonstrate the importance of art education and mentorship,” according to the promotional statement.
The evening closed with keynote speaker Adrienne Fast, curator of The Reach Gallery Museum, speaking on her love for art and why it matters.
Images: UFV Flickr
