Orion Lecture: The Day The World Stops Shopping
We can’t stop shopping. And yet we must. This is the consumer dilemma that noted author J.B. MacKinnon is addressing in this special Department of Writing Orion Lecture. Join us at 2:30pm Tuesday, Oct 19, as MacKinnon speaks to Writing students and the general public....
Sandra Meigs returns – Don’t miss it!
The Visual Arts department is please to welcome Sandra Meigs back to VIA for the launch of her new book and exhibition. Meigs has deep ties at the university having mentored hundred of art students during her +20 years at UVic. Be sure to check out these upcoming...
2021 Student Community Impact Award winners
The Faculty of Fine Arts is proud to announce the three recipients of our inaugural Fine Arts Student Community Impact Awards, presented as part of the annual Greater Victoria Regional Arts Awards on Oct 1 at a live event held at Sidney’s Winspear Centre. Each...
Fine Arts contest raises awareness
How much do you know about the Indigenous presence at UVic? A new Fine Arts Orange Shirt Day contest is designed to help you learn more while having fun exploring the campus—and possibly win a fantastic prize! Created by Karla Point—Indigenous Resurgence Coordinator...
Climate-crisis sparks new journalism position
Wildfires, droughts, floods, extreme storms: we are living in a time when climate change should be the biggest story of our time—yet, as the recent federal election proved, all too often it doesn’t even make the headlines. As the new Wayne Crookes Professor in...
Orange Shirt Week activities
UVic is committed to reconciliation. We're working to foster respect and mutual understanding with all Indigenous peoples and communities. You can partner in the work of reconciliation by listening, learning and sharing on Orange Shirt Day. "Orange Shirt Day is a...
ONC Artist in Residence debuts “Gossip with Whales”
The ocean has many songs to sing! Join us for this feast of music and celebration as we launch the world premiere performances of four new choral compositions created during Dennis Gupa's artistic residency with Ocean Networks Canada. Together with a panel of...
Student jobs now open!
Looking for on-campus work that won't conflict with your studies? Check out UVic's workstudy program: with 58 student jobs now posted in Fine Arts alone, each of our departments (and some associated units) are offering paid positions that will benefit your academic...
New accordion scholarship offers keys to the future
Visit any music academy in Eastern Europe, Russia or China and you’ll find numerous programs created specifically to study the accordion. Not so in North America, where it still doesn’t get the respect it deserves as a symphonic instrument. At UVic, however, that...
Dean’s Lecture Series focuses on sound studies, gender paradox in art
As part of our commitment to experiential learning and research excellence, our faculty members regularly present as part of UVic’s ongoing Dean’s Lecture Series. This spring, we were fortunate to present talks by the School of Music's Joseph Salem and Melia Belli...
Violin donation offers 250-year-old gift
Some gifts transcend time, as current School of Music undergraduate Iryna Peleshchyshyn discovered when she received the gift of a treasured 18th century violin to play during her degree program. The French violin—crafted in 1748 and valued at nearly $35,000—was...
New photo lab develops student skills
Thanks to cell phones, we live in an era where everyone has a camera in their pocket—but that doesn’t necessarily mean everyone is a photographer. “I keep having this conversation with students as photography evolves and becomes more ubiquitous,” says Laura Dutton, an...
Learning With Others: Karla Point
When it came time to hire a new Indigenous Resurgence Coordinator (IRC) for the Faculty of Fine Arts, we didn’t have to look very far: just down the Ring Road to the Faculty of Law, in fact. Karla Point—whose traditional Nuu chah nulth name is Hii nulth tsa kaa—is...
Beadwork as resistance
When it comes to beadwork, a design is created bead by bead, row by row: it’s much the same in writing, where poems and stories are created word by word, line by line. But for award-winning poet, memoirist and University of Victoria writing professor Gregory...
Banting Fellow & Vanier Scholar named in Fine Arts
Fine Arts researchers and creative practitioners Taylor Brook and Troy Sebastian are among UVic's recipients of the prestigious Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships and Vanier Canada Graduate Scholars, "Congratulations to Taylor and Troy," says Acting Dean Allana...
Kelly Richardson working with UN Biodiversity
If you could imagine a future for our planet’s biodiversity, what would it be? Visual Arts professor Kelly Richardson has been invited by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity to do just that as part of a global collaborative artwork to celebrate the world's...
Poetry & motion: Writing alumni Billeh Nickerson
There’s a delightful irony in the fact that the most memorable part of Joe Biden’s inauguration as the oldest president in US history was the reading by the youngest poet to ever appear at such a ceremony. Arguably the highlight of the event, 23-year-old Amanda...
Theatre alum Justin Lee explores cultural hybrids
If the COVID era has shown us anything, it’s that the future of theatre continues to be written. When the pandemic forced the shuttering of performance venues, stages around the world suddenly realized they would have to adapt to survive. Enter the age of mainstage...
Making positive change with Student Life Grants
When Black fourth-year School of Music saxophone major Baylie Adams wanted to make a community impact during February 2021's Black History Month, she looked to her own instrument for inspiration. “We were only hearing about Black composers in terms of jazz music, so I...
Writing MFA Kim Harvey wins GG Award for Drama
On June 1, Syilx & Tsilhqot’in playwright & director Kim Senklip Harvey became the first Indigenous woman to win the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama for her play Kamloopa: An Indigenous Matriarch Story (Talon Books)—less than a week after receiving...
Congratulations to spring 2021 grads!
Congratulations, Class of 2021—you made it! You are now one of over 9000 Fine Arts alumni worldwide who studied at UVic—and have the distinction of graduating during the most difficult year in our history. "As part of an esteemed group of artists and creative...
New $1000 student award launched
New community impact award Are you a current or graduating UVic Fine Arts undergraduate who's been involved with some community-engaged creative activity in Greater Victoria between Jan 1/20 & May 31/21? If so, you could qualify for $1,000 via our new Community...
Orion Series presents curator Fahmida Suleman
The Orion Lecture Series in Fine Arts Through the generous support of the Orion Fund in Fine Arts, the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Victoria, is pleased to present: Dr. Fahmida Suleman "Islamic Art & the Museum: A Curatorial Odyssey" 4:00 - 5:30 pm (PST)...
Annual Visual Arts BFA exhibit spotlights work created under COVID conditions
Even during a normal year, it can be a challenge for our Visual Arts students to complete their degree requirements and present a finished body of creative work while also planning the annual BFA grad show—a student-organized public exhibition which normally attracts...
Dennis Gupa: from sea rituals to applied theatre and science
The idea of artists working with scientists is nothing new to Dennis Gupa. A PhD candidate in UVic’s theatre department, Gupa is also the current artist-in-residence with Ocean Networks Canada (ONC), a UVic initiative. He sees the artistic residency, launched by the...
Phoenix Theatre livestreams Problem Child
Phoenix Theatre is excited to be presenting their only public mainstage production of the 20/21 academic year: George F. Walker's Problem Child, running at 8pm March 24-27 via their new broadcast-quality livestream. Tickets $15...
Orion Series presents Visiting Artist Curtis Santiago
The Orion Lecture Series in Fine Arts Through the generous support of the Orion Fund in Fine Arts, the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Victoria, is pleased to present: Curtis Santiago Multidisciplinary artist, musician 7:30 - 9:00 pm (PST) Wednesday, March 24 2021...
Orion Series presents Drew Hayden Taylor
The Orion Lecture Series in Fine Arts Through the generous support of the Orion Fund in Fine Arts, the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Victoria, is pleased to present: Drew Hayden Taylor Playwright, novelist, filmmaker, journalist "Canoeing Down the River of...
Distinguished Alumni Talk: Mercedes Bátiz-Benét on supporting IBPoC voices
When it comes to working in the arts and theatre sectors, IBPoC artists (Indigenous, Black, People of Colour) face a number of barriers due to systemic discrimination—yet IBPoC artists have always created innovative and bold new work. As Puente Theatre’s artistic...
Orion Series presents Gary Farmer
The Orion Lecture Series in Fine Arts Through the generous support of the Orion Fund in Fine Arts, the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Victoria, is pleased to present: Gary Farmer Actor, filmmaker, musician, publisher, activist "My Life as a Baby Clown" 12:30 -...
Susie Winter’s feature film screenplay started as student project
It all started with an empty boat floating on a lake. Screenwriter Susie Winters (BFA ’16) recalls driving alongside the vast expanse of Cameron Lake just east of Port Alberni when the image first drifted into her mind, inspiring what would become the screenplay for...
Orion Series presents director & writer Soheil Parsa
The Orion Lecture Series in Fine Arts Through the generous support of the Orion Fund in Fine Arts, the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Victoria, is pleased to present: Soheil Parsa Artistic director, Modern Times Stage Company "Transcending Cultural and Political...