NEW AGREEMENT TO LEAD TO FINE ARTS DEGREE IN NORTHERN BC

The proposed new Bachelor of Fine Arts degree will combine Creative Writing and Studio Arts and be comprised of courses from both institutions. In particular, UNBC will provide courses that reflect its strengths in creative writing, fiction, cultural studies, poetry, and drama, as well as other courses from First Nations Studies, History, and Anthropology. ECI has particular strength in studio arts and provides courses in drawing, visual communication, photography, and digital visual arts. The new program will still need to be developed and approved by the UNBC Senate and Board of Governors and the ECI Education Council, before receiving final approval from the Government of BC.

“Although there’s much work still to do, we’re hopeful that this Bachelor of Fine Arts program can start in 2007,” says Howard Brunt, Vice-President Academic at UNBC. “There’s considerable interest throughout the North for fine arts programming and this new program will build on our academic vision to enhance programming in arts and culture.”

ECI was founded in 1925 and has nearly 1500 full-time students. Its main campus is on Granville Island in Vancouver.

“This program will bring together two great institutions in areas of mutual interest to better serve the North as British Columbia’s economy shifts to knowledge-based industries,” says Dr. Ron Burnett, President of the Emily Carr Institute. “The opportunity to provide world-class learning and education in the North in partnership with UNBC is welcomed by Emily Carr Institute, Canada’s premier post-secondary institution in Art, Design and Media.”