Stories from the Creative Edge
Alumni
Distinguished Alumni Awards: Tania Willard
We congratulate 2025 Presidents’ Alumni Award recipient Tania Willard, a mixed Secwépemc and settler artist whose research intersects with land-based art practices. A graduate of the Department of Visual Arts (BFA, 1998), the work of Kamloops-born Willard activates...
Distinguished Alumni Award winner: Chari Arespacochaga
Chari Arespacochaga is an acclaimed theatre director and educator at the College of Fine Arts at Florida State University (FSU) where she is the Director of the MFA Directing Program. Her theatrical direction credits include Rent, Kinky Boots (Short North Stage), The...
Distinguished Alumni Award: Crystal Clark
Indigenous Community Alumni Award recipient Crystal Clark is a Cree/Dene and Métis mother, an artist and an Indigenous education specialist who has worked within First Nations and public schools. She holds a Master of Educational Technology, Bachelor of Education,...
Distinguished Alumni Awards: Cassandra Miller
We are thrilled that Cassandra Miller is the recipient of one of the 2025 Presidents’ Alumni Awards. Born in Victoria, Cassandra received her Bachelor of Music in Composition and Theory from UVic in 2005; her brother, the award-winning graphic designer Emrys Damon...
Supporting the next generation of writers in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community
Thanks to the Candis Graham Writing Scholarship, an award created by the Lambda Foundation alongside friends and family of the renowned lesbian-feminist writer and teacher, UVic student Zoe Bechtold is able to explore her diverse interests in writing and performance...
Fine Arts engages with Governor General
From left: UVic President Kevin Hall, Her Excellency Mary Simon, His Excellency Whit Fraser; Ry Moran, Andrea Walsh, Carey Newman; Kylie FinedayHer Excellency The Right Honourable Mary Simon, Governor General of Canada, shared opening remarks last week at an emotional...
Orion Lectures: “Thriving in the Arts” & “Connecting Audiences”
The OrionLecture Series in Fine ArtsThrough the generous support of the Orion Fund in Fine Arts, the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Victoria, is pleased to present:“Thriving in the Arts” & “Connecting Audiences” Sara Topham & Pablo Felices-Luna, Visiting...
Sounds for Soldiers: Emily Armour’s Music for Veterans Project connects young musicians with military vets
Music alum Emily Armour with Pipe Major Roger McGuire of the Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary's) at 2024's 80th anniversary of D-Day event at Victoria's Bay Street Armoury When it comes to honouring veterans, many people wear a poppy on November 11 and then...
Top 10 Fine Arts stories of 2024
There’s no better time than the start of a new year for a moment of reflection on the previous year’s accomplishments. With that in mind, we're happy to present the Fine Arts Top 10 of 2024: an inspiring series of story highlights about our students, faculty and...
Double Your Fine Arts Gift on Giving Tuesday
December 3 is Giving Tuesday, a day when the entire UVic community will unite around a common cause — supporting the students and programs that make this university the very special place it is. This year, UVic's Faculty of Fine Arts is raising funds to honour and...
Orion Series presents Jude Brereton
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: "Singing in space(s): Past, present and future" Featuring Jude Brereton, Professor of Audio...
Jeannette Armstrong and Lina de Guevara awarded Honorary Doctorates
The Faculty of Fine Arts is thrilled to announce that Jeannette Armstrong will be awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters (DLitt) and Lina de Guevara will be awarded an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts (DFA) at the Fall 2024 Fine Arts convocation ceremony. You can watch as...
Orion Series presents Virtuosic Technologies
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: "Virtuosic Technologies: Indigenous and European musical storytelling in the 17th...
Orion Series presents Carleigh Baker
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: Carleigh Baker Writer "Writing Fiction in our Complicated Contemporary World" 2:30-3:50pm,...
World premiere of climate disaster play at Phoenix Theatre
People across Canada came together to help one another during recent climate disasters, and now Neworld Theatre and the Climate Disaster Project are bringing those true-life stories to the stage. Eyes of the Beast: Climate Disaster Survivor Stories is the first...
SALT celebrates 10th festival
SALT co-founder & School of Music professor Ajtony CsabaThe tenth SALT New Music Festival, founded in 2011 and organized by the Tsilumos Ensemble in collaboration with UVic's School of Music, returns to Victoria for the first time live since 2019 with a compelling...
Theatre grad Medina Hahn is choosing her own path
Medina Hahn with Daniel Arnold in Inheritance (David Cooper photo)Any professional actor will tell you that success in the industry demands a combination of talent, determination and plain old hard work. But Vancouver-based actor, singer and writer Medina Hahn (BFA...
World premiere climate play coming in September
A Neworld Theatre production presented by the Climate Disaster Project in association with the University of Victoria’s Department of Theatre, Eyes of the Beast: Climate Disaster Stories is about ordinary people surviving these extraordinary times. Adapted from the...
Student award honours northern roots
Sarah de LeeuwWriting with a sense of place is a core teaching in our Department of Writing: our connection with the land can not only inspire us but also be a source of creativity in our life and works. The connection between health and the arts is also essential,...
How to Build a Fire: A Performance by Kerri Flannigan
In the unique live performance is a performance accompanied by projections, sound, and live-narration. How To Build a Fire, Visual Arts MFA alum Kerri Flannigan explores connections to nature, changing climates and wildfire through the relationship with their father,...
Snapshot of a year
We're excited to share with you the latest edition of the Faculty of Fine Arts Annual Review. While it's always difficult to encapsulate an entire year's worth of activity into a single 36-page magazine, we do enjoy the creative challenge of sharing our top stories...
Laura Ramoso is that one girl who became an internet sensation
Laura Ramoso live on stage (Angelo Manalac photo) Like many artists, Theatre alumna and comedy sensation Laura Ramoso (BFA ’16), struggled to find a way to practise her craft when the pandemic turned out the stage lights in 2020. Her fledgling career in live comedy...
More micro-certificates for the GLAM sector
Working in partnership, the department of Art History & Visual Studies and the Division of Continuing Studies launched two new micro-certificate programs this past year: Digital Planning for the Cultural Sector and Indigenous Cultural Stewardship. Fine Arts is at...
Faith, fuel and the life of poet Cara-Lyn Morgan
Cara-Lyn Morgan grew up as a bit of a nomad, living at various times in Regina, SK, Windsor, ON and BC’s Okanagan region. She originally moved to Victoria to attend Camosun College’s criminal justice program and complete a criminology degree she had begun earlier at...
Summer Arts Series now registering
Looking to add some hands-on art-making to your summer plans? Curious about how art can transform our experience of the world and the way we engage with each other? The UVic Summer Arts Series is back in July with a series of Fine Arts alumni-led public workshops...
Congratulation to the 2024 grad class!
Jude Wolff Ackroyd, BFA Honours 2024Congratulations to our 2024 grad class! Whether you're graduating from our department of Art History & Visual Studies, Theatre, Visual Arts, Writing or the School of Music, you're now part of an extended community of nearly...
“There’s always more to learn” says graduating professional musician Philip Manning
When it comes to career paths, most music students aspire to professional positions after graduation—playing with an orchestra, say, or becoming a chamber musician or band teacher. Not so with Philip Manning, who took a different approach to his own musical career:...
A passion for art history fuels Aashna Kulshreshtha’s international experience
Taking online classes during COVID at 3 a.m. India-time may not have been the ideal first-year experience, but it didn’t deter Aashna Kulshreshtha from enthusiastically pursuing her undergraduate degree in art history. Born and raised in New Dehli, Aashna finished...
Climate Disaster Project wins national award
UVic's Climate Disaster Project has been named the winner of a Special Recognition Citation at the National Newspaper Awards—Canada’s top journalism awards. Announced at a gala event in Toronto on April 26, the award is designed to recognize exceptional journalism...
Annual BFA grad exhibit opens April 19
Our final public event of the 23/24 academic season is the annual Department of Visual Arts BFA graduation exhibition, this year titled Silver Bullets. After the public opening night gala on April 19, the free exhibit runs 10am-6pm daily through April 28. With pieces...
Opera star Marion Newman joins UVic Music
Critically acclaimed Canadian opera singer and national CBC Radio host Marion Newman is returning to the University of Victoria to join the award-winning teaching faculty at the School of Music. Newman — whose traditional name is Nege’ga — is of Kwagiulth and Stó:lō...
Orion Series presents Randi Edmundson & Shizuka Kai
The OrionLecture Series in Fine ArtsThrough the generous support of the Orion Fund in Fine Arts, the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Victoria, is pleased to present:Randi Edmundson & Shizuka Kai Visiting artists & puppeteers, offering a pair of...