A Bridge Between Two Worlds: Kirk McNally’s new ADCARA role

by | Jan 16, 2026 | Art History & Visual Studies, Award, Faculty, Graduate, indigenous, News, Orion Series in Fine Arts, Research, School of Music, Theatre, Visual Arts, Writing

While new hires are a regular part of faculty life, it’s rare that we see the creation of entirely new administrative roles. One of the Faculty highlights of 2025 was the inauguration of two brand-new Associate Dean positions: Associate Dean Indigenous, held by Writing professor Danielle Geller, and Associate Dean Creative Activity, Research and Administration (ADCARA), held by School of Music professor Kirk McNally.

A professional sound engineer, McNally is a familiar face at faculty meetings: he first joined our School of Music in 2006 along with the then-new Music & Computer Science program before being appointed a professor of music technology in 2016; his own research and creative work has been supported by the likes of SSHRC, the Canada Council, the Banff Centre and UVic’s Learning & Teaching Centre, among others. In 2025, McNally was awarded the UVic Provost’s Advocacy & Activism Award in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion for his efforts to host a diverse range of musicians and fostering a vibrant learning environment for aspiring sound engineers and producers.

Now, as our inaugural ADCARA, McNally’s role focuses on a number of linked priorities, including,

  • external grants and awards support and advocacy, and strategic positioning of faculty
  • advocacy for Fine Arts via different UVic councils and committees
  • undertaking various strategic initiatives around collaboration, both on and off campus, and
  • graduate student curriculum support and development of new grad student initiatives and collaborations.

Boil it down, and McNally sees the ADCARA position as a means of promoting, supporting and benefiting Fine Arts as a whole.

“It’s about representation within different committees and at different levels, both across the university and at the community level,” he explains. “We’re clearly acknowledged as a Faculty within the university, but we don’t always have a voice to negotiate on specific topics.”

A bridge between worlds

While other faculties on campus have had similar roles for decades now, the ADCARA offers a new opportunity for Fine Arts.

“We haven’t had a role like this before, but I think it will allow people to have less work happening off the side of their desks — especially as the university becomes more of an interdisciplinary place where we work collaboratively across units,” McNally says.

“So, I do a lot around representation and acknowledgement of how research is viewed and defined on campus, including creative activity and creative works . . . . not everyone really understands what we do, how we do it and why it matters both on and off-campus.”

McNally in the CReaTe Lab

Describing the ADCARA role as being “exciting and very stimulating”, McNally feels it’s a logical step for him. “It fits well with my training as a recording engineer, who act as the intermediary between an artist and their audience, and help the audience receive the project in the way the artist intended — you’re like a bridge between two worlds, making connections for a specific outcome. Because of that, I really value opportunities to work across units on interdisciplinary projects . . . it just feels natural to collaborate with different talent while also getting the opportunity to learn about their activities.”

By way of example of how his position can function, McNally points to the November 2025 Science + Art = Actionevent featuring Swiss glaciologist Andreas Linsbauer of the University of Zurich.

“We had the Swiss Embassy approach [Crookes Professor] Sean Holman, who didn’t necessarily have the capacity to quickly organize anything mid-semester, so I was able to assist with making it happen.” As a result, Fine Arts joined with KULA and the Geography department to host an event bridging science, art, technology, education and climate change, attended by representatives from departments across campus. “It would have been very easy to say ‘we’re just too busy right now’, but then we wouldn’t have had this opportunity, and all those people wouldn’t have been in the room. Instead, we were able to showcase Fine Arts research and activity, and advocate for future collaboration.”

2025’s Science + Art = Action event

Giving back and catching up

While his ADCARA duties are in addition to his ongoing role with the School of Music, McNally sees them less as a burden and more as an opportunity.

“This institution has supported my growth and development for the past 20 years, so I see this as one way of giving back towards what’s been a very positive experience for me,” he says. “Before I was hired, for example, there was no CReaTe Lab in Music, but now there’s so much activity in there and that space will continue to grow in the years ahead.”

He also feels the ADCARA position will help better frame Fine Arts for the UVic of the future. “Since I was hired in 2006, we’ve certainly seen an increase in UVic’s profile as a research campus,” he says. “Not having had a role like this until now, we’re playing a lot of catch-up to convince people where we are in research and creative activity. But we’ve done amazing things lately.”

Over the past five years, some of those “amazing things” include the hiring in Visual Arts of Canada Research Chair Joel Ong, Canada Excellence Research Chair in Decolonial and Transformational Indigenous Art Practices Heather Igloliorte and the elevation of Carey Newman from the limited term Audain Professor to UVic’s Impact Chair in Indigenous Art Practices. Meanwhile, the Black Scholar Fund  has enabled Fine Arts to bring in the likes of professors Lauren McCall in Music and Wayde Compton in Writing, while the Indigenous Recruitment Support Fund attracted professors Mique’l Dangeli (AHVS) and Marion Newman (Music). And, as recently as January 2026, we’ve seen Sarah Belle Reid join us as our newest Music technology professor.

But, as McNally points out, “when you’re coming in at those levels, there’s an expectation that there will also be capacity to facilitate activity and support people’s work, so that’s one of the ways this [ADCARA] role will help our faculty.”

Grad student support

Another bullet-point in the ADCARA brief is graduate student curriculum support, and development of new grad student initiatives and collaborations.

“This role will help to lighten the load of our Associate Dean Academic, so they’re not handling both undergrad and grad curriculum,” he says. “I also advocate for our graduate students with the Faculty of Graduate Studies to build greater opportunities and better support in forums where we traditionally had less presence.”

For examples, he points to the annual grad student Ocean Networks Canada ArtScience Fellowship and our Pacific Opera Victoria partnership. “It’s about finding opportunities when there’s a desire from a specific department, working in concert with them to help get things off the ground.”

Visual Arts grad student Parvin Hasani (left) was the 2025 ONC ArtScience Fellow

Coming up next

Looking ahead to this semester, McNally is particularly excited by the extended visit by Orion Scholar Mike Ananny, a communications and journalism professor with USC.

“He’s a highly respected academic: a former Trudeau Scholar and advisor to the federal Minister of Heritage, he was on the advisory committee for the future of CBC and Radio Canada . . . he’ll be really interesting for people to engage with, especially in this time of cultural sovereignty.”

During his three months in Fine Arts, Ananny will be specifically focused on the use of creative AI and its impacts on the arts, artists and creatives.

“Anyone who’s working with or contemplating creative AI, how it works, how it’s being used, how it’s affecting the sense of artistic self and identity across the creative field,” says McNally. “He’ll be giving a public Orion lecture plus offering curated workshops with our grad students and faculty.”

Planning for the future

Ultimately, McNally feels the ADCARA position nicely aligns with his own research and creative activity.

“The way I helped develop the music and technology program is similar to how the sciences build a lab: using grants to help a group of students work around aligned research objectives. I’ve also engaged with external communities and worked to bring them to campus through events like the Society for Music Production Research conference and the Audio+ series, which allow students to see their futures in the industry. Creating a culture of research is one of the goals of this position, so it’s about both seeing what’s possible and what people can aspire to.”

The Theatre department’s focus on applied theater is a good example of that: an emerging field just 30 years ago, UVic is now seen as a world leader thanks to the work of past professors like Warwick Dobson and Julianna Saxton, and current professors Yasmine Kandil and Kirsten Sadeghi-Yekta.

A more recent example is Visual Arts professor Heather Igloliorte’s Taqsiqtuut Indigenous Research-Creation Lab. “Look at who she’s brought in during the first year of her CERC position — people are literally coming here from all over the world because they’ve got connections with her and now they know what we’re doing here. This kind of work is driven by relationships and building relationships is one of the things we’re really good at in Fine Arts.”

Opening day for Heather Igloliorte’s  Taqsiquut Research Creation Lab in 2025

2025: Year in Review

by | Dec 29, 2025 | Alumni, Art History & Visual Studies, Award, climate, Faculty, Graduate, indigenous, Orion Series in Fine Arts, Research, School of Music, Theatre, Undergraduate, Visual Arts, Writing

It’s hard to believe 2025 is already over: some years crawl like watching paint dry on a canvas, while others speed by at the rate of a can’t-put-it-down bestseller. Given that the 2000s will likely come to be known as the century when attention spans reduced faster than polar icecaps, we’re pleased to offer this quick recap of the year that just was.

New faculty

We’re always excited to welcome fresh talent to our faculty . . . especially in times of fiscal restraint. This year saw Lauren McCall join our School of Music as a professor in composition and music technology in January, while artist-researcher and Tier II Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Emergent Digital Art Practices Joel Ong joined our Visual Arts department in July. And just on the horizon but already announced is the news that Sarah Belle Reid will join Music as a professor in technology starting in January 2026.

While not new faculty, two professors taking on new roles this year were Writing’s Danielle Geller, who is our new Associate Dean Indigenous, and Music’s Kirk McNally, who steps up to the role of Associate Dean Creative Activity, Research and Administration.

Lauren McCall

Student activity

Whether it’s grad student activity like the annual Audain Foundation Travel Awards or the Ocean Networks Canada ArtScience Fellowship, or undergrad achievements in the annual Community Impact Awards, we’re always proud of our student achievements.

Visual Arts MFA candidate Edith Skeard was named one of just five BC graduate students to receive a $7,500 Travel Award from the Audain Foundation in September, which she’ll use for a month-long Sound Lab residency in Struer / Copenhagen for an exploration of sound art within a sculptural context. Meanwhile, another Visual Arts MFA — Parvin Hasani — spent her summer as the ONC ArtScience Fellow researching the extreme ecosystems of deep-sea hydrothermal vents in order to create her own conceptual sculptural pieces, which she debuted in the September exhibit Tides of Memory.

Parvin engaging with visitor at her ONC exhibit

July saw UVic Chamber Singers director Adam Con and 21 singers  head to the acclaimed Sicily Music Festival & Competition, where School of Music professors Benjamin Butterfield and Anne Grimm were both part of the festival’s international teaching faculty; other Music students also attended as solo artists, offering good student representation.

Also in Music, this year’s Concerto Competition celebrated exceptional student musicians whose talents span genres, generations, and geographies. The competition finals were held in April 2025 and performances by winners Tamsyn Klazek-Schryer, Olivia Pryce-Digby and Ethan Page are rolling out during our 2025-26 concert season.

This year’s juried Community Impact Awards saw Music’s Sophie Hillstrom and Theatre’s Sage Easton-Levy each win $1,000 for their work with the Early Music Society of the Islands and Sooke Youth Theatre, respectively. Since 2021, we’ve awarded over $15,000 to 13 students from across Fine Arts for projects ranging from murals, theatre productions, music performances, art shows, curatorial projects and more, all within Greater Victoria’s regional boundaries.

November saw three Writing students — Raamin Hamid, Fernanda Solorza and Ashley Ciambrelli — run a series of climate survivor testimonials in the UK’s Guardian media outlet as part of a Climate Disaster Project partnership, hooked to the COP30 UN Climate Change Conference in Brazil. That same month also saw 95 students collaborate on the presentation of 18 commissioned five-minute plays performed as part of the International Climate Change Theatre Action project.

And it was exciting to see AHVS PhD candidate Amy Anderson’s recent Rocky Horror Picture Show story on The Conversation Canada — one of the top-three most-read stories by UVic authors this fall!

New research lab

February saw the launch of the new Taqsiqtuut Research-Creation Lab in our Visual Arts department. Led by Visual Arts professor Heather Igloliorte — who is also UVic’s only Canada Excellence Research Chair — Taqsiqtuut has had a busy year of programming, bringing artists, researchers, curators and creators from around the international circumpolar region in to connect with faculty and students alike.

“I have a large network of colleagues and artists I’ve been working with for a long time, partners who are working and thinking across Indigenous cultures and learning from each other in order to move towards this place of transformation and decolonization,” says Igloliorte.

It was a full house at the Taqsiqtuut opening

New artistic residency

This year we welcomed Candian artist Siobhan Humston as the inaugural UVic Rubinoff artist-in-residence. Selected from a field of 50+ applicants, Humston spent six weeks developing new work at the Jeffrey Rubinoff Sculpture Park on Hornby Island as part of this paid residency; she also mounted a public exhibition here at UVic in October.

“It’s always hard to imagine what may come from working in a new place,” says Humston, who has held a number of international residencies. “As an artist, the JRSP presents a surprise physicality to me — even though my resulting work may not be large, I feel like it has taken a lot of energy and space to produce, which reflects on the expansive nature of the park itself.”

Visitors at Siobhan Humston’s UVic opening

Visiting artists

There’s been no shortage of high-profile visits this year, ranging from Canada Council for the Arts CEO Michelle Chawla to visiting professors like Andreas Linsbauer, Philippe Pasquier and  representatives from the Chilean Embassy. “We’re not doing this alone: we’re part of a dynamic arts ecosystem . . . and universities are an important part of this world,” said Chawla. “We need to tell the story of what the arts bring to our communities and why that matters.”

Our long-running Orion series and Living Artists, Living Art visiting artist program welcomed the likes of artists Deanna Bowen, Don Kwan, Meryl McMaster, Lan “Florence” Yee, poet Karen Solie, author Saeed Teebi, conservator Helene Tulo, scholar Mary Storm, artist Jerry Ropson, our own Visual Arts professor Beth Stuart, artist Marlene Yuen, celebrated theatre alumni Sara Topham and Pablo Felices-Luna and many others. Meanwhile, d’bi.young anitafrika was the third presenter in our annual donor-funded Lehan Family Activism & the Arts Series in February, and veteran journalist Stephen Maher was our latest Harvey Southam lecturer in October. Click on the links above to watch their public talks.

Michelle Chawla (right) in conversation with Visual Arts chair Megan Dickie

We were also pleased to honour noted local artist, art historian, author and arts writer Robert Amos as the recipient of an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts during our Fall Convocation ceremony. Amos has dedicated most of the past four decades to documenting — both journalistically and visually — Victoria’s visual arts scene. As Dr. Cedric Littlewood, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, noted in his introduction, “By bringing people, buildings and neighbourhoods to life, Robert’s contributions to BC’s art history is the very fabric of Victoria’s history.”

Faculty research & creative activity

Faculty research and creative practice is always in the spotlight, and this year was no exception. Music professor Steven Capaldo’s brand-new piece specially composed the closing ceremonies of the Invictus Games in February. Performed live by the Royal Canadian Navy’s Naden Band and broadcast to viewers around the world, his “Invictus Fanfare” had its world premiere as the accompaniment to the sight of over 550 wounded warriors walking and wheeling into Vancouver’s Rogers Arena.

Speaking of Vancouver, Theatre professor Carmen Alatorre picked up her latest Jessie Richardson Award for Outstanding Costume Design for her work on Two Gentleman of Verona for Bard on the Beach.

After months of planning, rehearsals and preparation, September saw the launch of the Indigenous theatre festival Staging Our Voices. Presented by Theatre professor Kirsten Sadeghi-Yekta, the SSHRC-funded and artist-led festival supported the efforts of artists working to invigorate Indigenous languages through the medium of theatre. “We realized that a lot of Indigenous Artists feel isolated, specifically artists that are working with the language, and they would love to find ways to gather, to share food, to share stories and be in one space together,” says Sadeghi-Yekta.

Also in Theatre, professor Sasha Kovacs received a SSHRC Insight Development Grant for her Performance in the Pacific Northwest project, co-led by the University of Lethbridge’s Heather Davis-Fisch with contributions from project researchers Matthew Tomkinson, Laurel Green and Lee Cookson. This is in addition to her role as co-director of Gatherings: Archival and Oral Histories of Performance, a seven-year, $2.5 million SSHRC Partnership Grant she was awarded last year.

Music professor Kirk McNally, Visual Arts professor Kelly Richardson and Writing professor David Leach were all recipients of UVic’s annual REACH Awards, recognizing outstanding achievement by UVic teachers and researchers who are leading the way in dynamic learning and making a vital impact on campus, in the classroom and beyond.

Sean Holman — the Wayne Crookes Professor in Environmental & Climate Journalism with the Department of Writing — was announced in July as the leader of a new six-year, $2.5-million SSHRC partnership grant. From Catastrophe to Community: A People’s History of Climate Changewill train 500 post-secondary students and professional journalists to document the experience of 1,000 survivors around the world and share their wisdom. Holman was also honoured not only with the 2025 Bill Good Award at the annual Webster Awards for BC journalism in November, but his 2024 Climate Disaster Project verbatim theatre production Eyes of the Beast also just earned a Silver Award in the “Sustainability, Environment & Climate” Special Projects Awareness category of the Anthem Awards (presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences) in November.

Alumni acclaim

UVic’s 2025 Distinguished Alumni Awards were announced in March, and Fine Arts was thrilled to see four of our outstanding graduates being honoured across the categories: Presidents’ Alumni Award winners Cassandra Miller (School of Music) and Tania Willard (Visual Arts), Emerging Alumni Award winner Chari Arespacochaga (Theatre), and Indigenous Community Alumni Award winner Crystal Clark (Visual Arts).

It was a double-win for Tania Willard, however, when she was also announced as the recipient of the $100,000 Sobey Art Award in November. And our very recent Orion Lecturer — poet and UVic alumna Karen Solie — won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry for her latest collection Wellwater just days after her visit to campus. Kudos also go out to just-graduated Writing MFA Adrienne Wong, who was shortlisted for the $100,000 Siminovitch Prize in theatre.

Tania Willard

Locally, two Writing MFA alumni were in the headlines this fall: Kyeren Regher was named the latest City of Victoria Poet Laureate — the third Writing alum to hold that position — and Melanie Siebert won the inaugural DC Reid Poetry Prize at the City of Victoria book awards.

Uplifting Indigenous voices on Giving Tuesday

by | Dec 1, 2025 | Alumni, Award, donor, indigenous, Writing

Giving Tuesday is coming up fast on December 2! We encourage you to join UVic’s campus community and grads from around the world by pitching in to support student success, health, well-being and the programs that help make UVic the special place it is.

This year, the Faculty of Fine Arts is raising funds to honour and celebrate Indigenous voices through the sxʷiʔe ̕m “To Tell A Story” Indigenous Writers & Storytellers Series.

About the series

Created by acclaimed Métis poet and Department of Writing professor Gregory Scofield in 2023, this annual series is an inspiring way of uplifting Indigenous literary achievements and engaging with our local community of writers and readers. To date, the sxʷiʔe ̕m series has featured a mix of Writing alumni (Syilx Okanagan multidisciplinary author Jeannette Armstrong, award-winning WSÁNEC poet Philip Kevin Paul) and guests (Icelandic/Red River Métis poet Jónína Kirton and Cree author Joseph Kakwinokansum).

“My goal is to honour the nations on whose territory we live, and to celebrate and honour the writers and storytellers in our communities,” says Scofield.

Join us in uplifting Indigenous voices with this important series on Giving Tuesday!

UVic actually has 25 causes to choose from, ranging from the food bank to experiential learning and emergency bursaries — but know that whichever fund you choose to support will have a lasting impact on campus and beyond. Every single dollar counts!

Two students win 2025’s Community Impact Awards

by | Nov 26, 2025 | Alumni, Award, donor, School of Music, Theatre, Undergraduate

Sophie Hillstrom (left) with Dean Allana Lindgren and Sage Easton-Levy

Congratulations go out to the recipients of our fifth annual Faculty of Fine Arts Student Community Impact Awards: just-graduated School of Music student Sophie Hillstrom and current Theatre student Sage Easton-Levy — each of whom receives $1,000 for their work with local community organizations.

Each was chosen from a field of applicants and selected by a juried committee based on their nomination packages. The awards were presented live as part of the annual Greater Victoria Regional Arts Awards gala on November 26. “The recipients of these awards are definitely talents to watch,” says Fine Arts Dean Allana Lindgren. “Over the past five years, it’s been exciting for us to see previous winners further their creative achievements locally, with some continuing their artistic development as graduate students farther afield.”

“Winning one of the Student Impact Awards is a great honor,” says Sophie. “I always enjoyed being an active member of the arts community in Victoria and never expected to be recognized for it . . . I’m incredibly grateful to all who have contributed and made it possible for me to win this award. It is truly incredible.”

“I’m incredibly appreciative and excited by this opportunity,” Sage says. “This award is not only financially helpful as a student but speaks to the recognition that art and theatre are important and beneficial to communities as a whole.”

Alumni winners at the 2025 GVRAAs included Kathleen Greenfield and Ingrid Hansen for their work with SNAFU Dance Theatre, and Tiffany Tjosvold for her work with Embrace Arts. 

Essential additions to the community

A second-year theatre student at UVic with the goal of obtaining her MFA, Sage Easton-Levy earned her prize for her work as director of the Sooke Youth Theatre Company — specifically for their 2024 production of Disney’s Newsies Jr., but her involvement with the company goes back to 2019. As artistic director, choreographer and costume designer — or often all three — Sage has been described as both “the backbone and the fire” behind 13 different productions.

As board member Melanie Nelson points out I the nomination package, “Sage’s impact has been nothing short of extraordinary. Since joining the company, her growth as a director has been evident in the increasing quality of our productions — not only to myself as both a board member and a parent of a participating child, but also to the wider audience and our cast members themselves. Sage has a rare ability to identify and showcase each child’s unique strengths. Her productions shine not only because of her talent but also because she fosters an environment where young performers can thrive and feel valued. It is truly special to witness Sage’s work.”

Music’s Sophie Hillstrom is recognized not only for her work as the Student Director with the Early Music Society of the Islands during their recent 40th anniversary season but also for her enthusiastic “I can do anything I put my mind to” attitude. As EMSI’s Student Director, Sophie participated in board meetings, volunteered at concerts, drove performers to hotels, connected with audiences and donors, helped plan media engagement strategies, and organized outreach to other UVic students and professors.

As Society president Joanne Whitehead notes, “Sophie has demonstrated a keen interest in engaging her fellow students — and the community at large — in the wonderful sounds of early music. As an active participant in all aspects of the Society’s workings, Sophie is developing a strong sense of the importance of the social context required to support a thriving arts scene, alongside her growth as a performer of baroque music. I am confident that she will become a strong positive contributor not just to the early music world, but also to the broader music and arts ecosystem.”

About Sage Easton-Levy

Sage is a second-year theatre student at UVic with the goal of obtaining her MFA in directing. She recently moved to Victoria from Sooke, which she’s called home for over 10 years. Sage has been a director and choreographer for the Sooke Youth Theatre Company since 2018, enabling her to follow her passion of working with children in performance.

In addition to her work with SYTC, Sage also volunteers with the Sooke Harbour Players as secretary of the board, as well having recently directed her first adult-cast show, Frankenstein, with the group; she was also recently onstage for the second time with VOS at the McPherson Playhouse in their production of Legally Blonde.

Sage is profoundly grateful to be honoured for her staged production of Newsies with this award and the ability to encourage and uplift youth performers and curate a positive experience showcasing theatre in her town.

“Connecting and networking in the greater arts community is so important,” she says. “There are plenty of opportunities off-campus and, in a city like Victoria, there is a lot of crossover in these fields. I’ve made some wonderful friendships and memories being involved in many groups by performing, volunteering and reaching out.”

Immediate future plans for her include directing and choreographing SYTC’s production of Grease: School Edition in January 2026, before mounting Singin’ in the Rain in June. “I would also love to get back onstage, as I am equally enthusiastic about acting,” she says. “I’m very excited for the prospects ahead!”

About Sophie Hillstrom

Before moving to Victoria to attend UVic, Sophie grew up in nearby Seattle and graduated in June 2025 with a Bachelor of Music in Musical Arts. Currently, she is continuing her involvement in the Victoria music community, teaching, performing and volunteering. She continues to serve on the board for the Early Music Society of the Islands, ushering at concerts, sharing her wisdom, putting up posters and doing anything she can to help cultivate a community of early music lovers in Greater Victoria.

“As a student, it’s quite easy to get swept up in everything happening on campus and forget there is a world outside of UVic that is also interesting, informative and fun,” says Sophie. “But one of the greatest benefits for students being involved in an off-campus community is simply getting to interact with a wider net of people — especially for a niche interest like early music . . . I’ve been meeting hundreds of people who all have unique perspectives and a love of early music, which is incredibly special.”

Future plans include continuing to serve on the board of EMSI and teaching strings with Harmony Project Sooke. She also teaches private students, and is freelancing as a performing violist. “I intend on continuing my education in either a performance certificate program or a Master’s of Music in Viola Performance,” she says. “All I really hope for my future is that it is full of inspiration, love, and my ‘I can do anything I put my mind to’ attitude!”

About the awards

Fine Arts has been the city’s artistic incubator for well over 50 years, helping to produce creative and scholarly talents across the cultural spectrum. Our campus community continues to contribute to the arts locally, nationally and internationally — with many of our students, alumni and teaching faculty now working in forms and mediums undreamt of when we were established in 1969. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, our Community Impact Awards put the spotlight on current students who are reaching beyond their full-time studies.

Since 2021, we’ve awarded over $15,000 to 13 students from across Fine Arts for projects ranging from murals, theatre productions, music performances, art shows, curatorial projects and more, all within the regional boundaries of Greater Victoria (Sidney to Sooke).

As the name implies, the Community Impact Awards highlight the efforts of undergraduate Fine Arts students who have demonstrated an outstanding effort by engaging with Victoria’s wider creative community over and above their course work.

Read about our previous winners here: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021.

Nominations for next year’s Community Impact Awards will be live in early 2026. Stay tuned to the Fine Arts Instagram account for the announcement.

Robert Amos receives Honorary DFA

by | Nov 17, 2025 | Art History & Visual Studies, Award, News, Visual Arts, Writing

An artist, art historian, author and arts writer, Robert Amos has dedicated most of the past four decades to documenting — both journalistically and visually — Victoria’s visual arts scene, whether with the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, the Times Colonist newspaper or in his own many books. But he has also spent over 15 years working with the Artist Archives in UVic’s Special Collections, making him an ideal choice to receive an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts during the Fall Convocation ceremony. As Dr. Cedric Littlewood, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, noted in his introduction, “By bringing people, buildings and neighbourhoods to life, Robert’s contributions to BC’s art history is the very fabric of Victoria’s history.”

“Art history isn’t all about the distant past: in fact, art history is all around us. If we reflect on and understand the times we live in, we may come to understand ourselves a bit better,” said  Amos during his 10-minute talk. “I’m passionate about sharing stories with students, art lovers and the general public and while the internet provides instantaneous global reach to any information we may want to look up, unless we who live and work here create and tell our own local stories, and find a way to preserve and safeguard those for the future, there won’t be anything there for anyone to look up and access.”

Amos noted how UVic students are surrounded by art, mentioning the Salish banners, sculptural panels, ceremonial furniture and pieces from the University Art Collection displayed across campus. “Art really is part of our life here on campus and it’s more than just decoration,” he said. “Art is a form of communication . . . and if you find a way to communicate the reality of your own time and place, history will be interested in what you have to say.”

Watch Robert’s convocation address here

Writing professor wins Bill Good Award

by | Nov 6, 2025 | Alumni, Award, climate, Faculty, Writing

Congratulations go out to UVic Writing professor Sean Holman on winning the Bill Good Award at the 2025 Webster Awards on Nov 3!

The Bill Good Award is presented to a BC individual or organization that makes a significant contribution to journalism in the province, or addresses a community’s needs & benefits via journalism — and, as the Wayne Crooks Professor in Environmental & Climate Journalism and founder of the Climate Disaster Project, Holman certainly qualifies on many fronts.

An award-winning investigative journalist before joining UVic’s teaching faculty (and also a UVic Alumni as well), Holman’s words to the awards audience were appropriately insightful.

“We are becoming a fact-resistant society, where experience is more important than the evidence, where what we believe is more important than what is real — and that means it’s a troubling time to be a journalist,” he said.

“We are activists for the truth at a time when the truth is hard to find, and even harder to tell. I’m so honoured to be part of that community.”

Holman keeps fighting the good fight as he trains the next generation of journalists in the Climate Disaster Project, teaching his students to use a trauma-informed approach and building a model of cooperation that can be replicated in newsrooms as they shrink.

Read the full award citation here.