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AMPD professor and alumni win big at 2021 Hot Docs Festival

empty theatre

Still Max, a documentary by Professor Katherine Knight in York University’s Department of Visual Art & Art History, School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD), was the recipient of a Rogers Audience Award at the 2021 Hot Docs Festival, which ran from April 29 to May 9.

Still Max film still
A still from Professor Katherine Knight’s award-winning documentary Still Max

Knight’s sixth film, Still Max follows Canadian artist Max Dean and his exploration of his cancer diagnosis through his artistic practice. Dean is an engaging subject and a prime example of the creative mind and the relationship of art to both the self and our understandings of the world (and bodies) we inhabit.

“The film prioritizes the individual artist’s perspective, experience and expertise,” says Knight. “In the film we learn about Max’s art and his journey through cancer, primarily through his first-person dialogue and immersive visuals that follow his creative process.”

Still Max was featured in the Canadian Spectrum category of this year’s festival, along with Cinema & Media Arts Professor John Greyson’s short International Dawn Chorus Day.

Also recognized at the festival were York film MFA alumni Lisa Jackson and Cailleah Scott-Grimes.

Jackson received the Canadian Forum Pitch Prize for her next project, Wilfred Buck, as well as the peer-nominated DOC Vanguard Award, which honours a mid-career filmmaker for advancing the documentary craft and elevating the next generation. While accepting the award, Jackson shared insight into her experience as an Indigenous filmmaker, while also taking time to acknowledge her family and community, and reflect on the impacts of colonialism on Indigenous, Black and racially diverse creatives.

“I wanted to take this moment right now to honour that my resilience, my skills, everything that I am has come from my family, has come from my community,” said Jackson in her speech. “I hope to keep honouring our people and this community with the work that I’m doing.”

Between Us film still
A still from York alumna Cailleah Scott-Grimes’ short film Between Us

Scott-Grimes received the Lindalee Tracey Award for her film Between Us, which is inspired by the close relationships she developed within the LGBTQ+ community while living in rural Japan. The award honours an emerging Canadian filmmaker with a passionate point of view and a strong sense of social justice.

“The Lindalee Tracey Award is a generous reminder to persevere, to have faith, and to approach filmmaking with love, empathy and humour,” said Scott-Grimes. The runner-up for the award was her fellow York alum Meelad Moaphi.

Between Us is currently screening online as part of the Inside Out LGBT Film Festival‘s Local Heroes program, alongside Professor Greyson’s film International Dawn Chorus Day. The festival runs from May 27 to June 6.

Trailblazing research examines virtual characters and walking style

FEATURED people walking Photo by Ingo Joseph from Pexels
FEATURED people walking Photo by Ingo Joseph from Pexels

In 2019, then PhD candidate Anne Thaler secured a VISTA postdoctoral fellowship and joined Professor and Canada Research Chair Nikolaus Troje’s BioMotionLab at York University and the Centre for Vision Research. She has a compelling research focus: She studies realistic virtual characters in virtual reality (VR) and related perception around these animated characters.

With collaborators, including Troje and researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems Tübingen (Germany), she recently wrote a short fascinating paper, “Attractiveness and Confidence in Walking Style of Male and Female Virtual Characters,” for the 2020 IEEE Virtual Reality Conference. Here, she investigated how perceived attractiveness and confidence relate to body shape and walking motion of these virtual characters.

“Our results indicate that attractiveness and confidence relate both to the shape and walking motion of animated characters,” she says. “This finding has important implications for virtual character animation.”

Anne Thaler
Anne Thaler
Nikolaus Troje
Nikolaus Troje

This is an exciting new area of research. Animated virtual characters are, or course, key components in many VR environments, from interactive computer games to training modules, and much progress has been made in developing 3D, life-like faces and body shapes over the last two decades.

But there’s not much research on biological and personality inferences made from the shape and motion of these virtual characters’ bodies. This work fills an important void.

“Human motion is rich in socially relevant information, such as a person’s identity, health and biological sex. Humans are extremely sensitive to animate motion patterns and highly efficient in extracting information encoded in these patterns,” Thaler explains. 

Study participants looked at 100 walkers, and rated their attractiveness and confidence

To undertake this research, Thaler and team generated virtual characters by reconstructing body shape and walking motion from optical motion capture data. Interestingly, they used the walking motions of 50 men and 50 women from the bmlRUB database – a database collected by the BioMotionLab. Each walker’s body shape and walking motion was reconstructed using the MoSh algorithm developed by the collaborators at the Max Planck Institute in Tübingen.

The researchers generated virtual characters by reconstructing body shape and walking motion from optical motion capture data using the MoSh algorithm
The researchers generated virtual characters by reconstructing body shape and walking motion from optical motion capture data using the MoSh algorithm

These 100 characters (stimuli) were presented to the study participants in three different ways:

  1. As a 3D virtual character with each actor’s shape and walking motion (Walking Meshes);
  2. As a walking stick figure with lines connecting 15 skeletal landmarks (Walking Stick Figures); and
  3. As a 3D virtual character in a static pose (Static Meshes).
<Caption> Screenshots of the virtual scene showing the static and walking virtual characters generated using an algorithm, and the walking stick-figures for one woman and one man from the database
Screenshots of the virtual scene showing the static and walking virtual characters generated using an algorithm, and the walking stick figures for one woman and one man from the database

The ‘walkers’ were presented such that they walked directly towards the study participant from four meters away in the virtual environment. The static virtual characters were placed 3.5 metres in front of the participant and were displayed for the same duration as the walking motion of each actor.

Next, the study participants rated how they perceived these characters on a six-point Likert scale. This is a kind of questionnaire that provides a series of answers that go from one extreme to another – from “strongly agree” at one end to “strongly disagree” at another end and less extreme choices in the middle. A Likert scale is particularly useful to researchers because it allows them to collect data that provides nuance and insight into participants’ perception. This data is quantitative and can easily be analyzed statistically.

In the first experiment, 40 study participants (20 female, 20 male) rated the attractiveness of the 100 characters from ‘1’ – not attractive, to ’6’ – very attractive. In the second experiment, another 36 participants (18 female, 18 male) rated the characters’ confidence from ‘1’ – not confident, to ‘6’ – very confident.

Findings consider differences in walking style of males and females

In addition to determining that attractiveness and confidence relate both to the shape and walking motion of animated characters, as noted, the researchers also discovered something about sexual dimorphism in walking style – that is, the difference in walking style between males and females.

They found that sexual dimorphism in walking style seems to play a different role in attributing biological and personality traits to male and female virtual characters.

More specifically, they determined that sexual dimorphism in walking was more important for female attractiveness, whereas increased vertical motion was important for male attractiveness. Interestingly, the opposite was true for perceived confidence.

“These results are important to consider in applications using animated virtual characters because inferences made from the character’s appearance and motion could influence the user’s behaviour,” Thaler says.

Thaler earned her PhD from the University of Tübingen in 2019. Her dissertation examined self-body perception in ecologically valid scenarios using VR and novel computer graphics methods for generating realistic biometric body models. In the BioMotionLab at York, she works on projects investigating body and space perception in VR.

To read the article, visit the conference website. For more on the BioMotionLab, visit the website. To learn more about Troje, visit his profile page. To read more about Thaler, read her bio on the BioMotionLab website or visit her website.

To learn more about Research & Innovation at York, follow us at @YUResearch; watch our new animated video, which profiles current research strengths and areas of opportunity, such as Artificial Intelligence and Indigenous futurities; and see the snapshot infographic, a glimpse of the year’s successes.

By Megan Mueller, senior manager, Research Communications, Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, York University, muellerm@yorku.ca

Upcoming Goldfarb Summer Institute events explore ‘Photography: In and Out of the Archive’

The Department of Visual Art and Art History at York University, York University’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design (AMPD) and Sensorium: Centre for Digital Arts and Technology present two events this week as part of the 13th Annual Goldfarb Summer Institute.

Nina Levitt
Nina Levitt

Organized by Professors Nina Levitt and Sarah Parsons, the annual Joan & Martin Goldfarb Summer Institute in Visual Arts offers York University graduate students and the wider community the opportunity to engage with prominent international theorists, artists, curators and critics through seminars, workshops and public lectures.

This year’s Summer Institute explores the theme “Photography: In and Out of the Archive.”

Archives have traditionally been understood as the organic repositories of information generated by the business of institutions such as states, corporations and other organizations. As such, archives occupy a position of official power and regularly serve as the basis for historical research and narratives. More recent critical thinking about archives challenges the possibility of organic collections or their neutrality, noting that archives always structure historical knowledge and often predetermine whose stories are entered into the official records. In official or institutional collections, archivists regularly make decisions about which documents offer information and evidence that would make them worth keeping. Increasingly, collectors, scholars, artists and others have created and archived collections that now carry their own power.

Sarah Parsons
Sarah Parsons

As the digital era has vastly broadened access to archives and historical material, debates about their scope and power have shifted to the mainstream and into a wide range of fields. In particular, critics noted an “archival turn” in contemporary art and curatorial practice, specifically in relation to photography. Photographs have played a disruptive role in these debates prompting questions about just what kind of information photographs can provide and what kinds of photographs have been placed inside or kept out of archives.

With the assistance of esteemed guests, Summer Institute examines the ways artists, curators, archivists, and scholars have taken up questions of both material practice and representational politics in the archival context.

The upcoming Summer Institute sessions take place virtually on May 5 and 6 and are open to the public.

“Unhomed: Orphan Images and Diasporic Kinships” – Thy Phu and Jacqueline Hoàng Nguyễn in Conversation

Unhomed Summer Institute event promo

This talk takes place on May 5 from 2 to 3:30 p.m. via Zoom. Register here.

What can family photographs tell us about ourselves, our attachments, our displacements, and our estrangements? In this event, artist Jacqueline Hoàng Nguyễn and critic Thy Phu discuss their work with family photographs as objects, as encounters with personal memory, and as creative artifacts.

Phu is a professor of media studies at the University of Toronto. She is co-editor of Feeling Photography and Refugee States: Critical Refugee Studies in Canada. She is also author of Picturing Model Citizens: Civility in Asian American Visual Culture, and Director of the collaborative research project, The Family Camera Network.

Nguyễn is an artist using archives and a broad range of media to investigate issues of historicity, collectivity, utopian politics and multiculturalism via feminist theories. Currently based in Stockholm, she is a PhD candidate in the Art, Technology and Design program at Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design. Nguyễn completed the Whitney Independent Study Program, her MFA and a post-graduate diploma in critical studies from the Malmö Art Academy, Sweden and a BFA from Concordia University.

“The Fugitive Photograph and Archival Escape in Jamaica” – Public talk with Krista Thompson

Photograph of Paul Bogle

This presentation takes place on May 6 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. via Zoom. Register here.

The photograph depicted in the graphic above, long circulated as an image of Paul Bogle – one of the leaders of what became known as the “Morant Bay Rebellion” (1865) – went missing from a national archive in Jamaica in the 1970s. The precise date and circumstances of its disappearance are unknown.

This presentation examines the histories, stories and controversies surrounding the photograph, which was first publicly identified as a representation of Bogle almost a century after his death in 1865. What role did photography play in state, academic and popular understandings of Bogle, the Morant Bay Rebellion, and the discipline of history in post-Independence Jamaica? What might the Bogle image reveal not only about the relationship between history and photography, but also about photographic disappearance, fugitivity and the unarchived in the historical imagination?

Thompson is the Mary Jane Crowe Professor of Art History at Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois. She is the author of An Eye for the Tropics (2006) and Shine: The Visual Economy of Light in African Diasporic Aesthetic Practice (2015), and recipient of the Charles Rufus Morey Award for distinguished book in the history of art from the College Art Association (2016). Thompson is currently working on the manuscript The Evidence of Things Not Captured (Duke University Press, forthcoming), which examines notions of photographic absence, fugitivity, and disappearance in Jamaica. She is also writing Black Light, a manuscript about electronic light artist Tom Lloyd.

 

Join York’s president for ‘The York U of the Future’ virtual conversation, April 30

PresidentConversationFutureFEATURED IMAGE
Featured image for the Conversation about the York U of the Future

Decorative image for the President's conversation about the York U of the futureOn Friday, April 30 at 12 p.m. ET, join York University President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton, York University Alumni Board Chair Francesca Accinelli (BFA ’92), York alumni and staff for The York U of the Future, a special virtual conversation about the opportunities, challenges and priorities for the University in 2021 and beyond.

In the face of unprecedented challenges created by COVID-19, York University has adapted, innovated and persevered, allowing the University to continue pursuing academic, research and professional excellence. York University remains a community of change leaders, who are using teaching, research, volunteerism, entrepreneurship and innovation to build more inclusive and resilient communities, both here at home and around the world.

Topics that will be covered at this event include how the University is working to expand York’s leadership in higher education, strengthen its impact on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and drive positive change in local and global communities.

A panel of guests will join Lenton to discuss how to build a better future for all Canadians through action on sustainability, social justice and global engagement. The event will also include a spoken word performance by Luke Reece (BA ’15), AMPD alumnus and recipient of York’s inaugural Top 30 Changemakers Under 30 list.

Panelists taking part in the event are:

  • Dean of the School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design Sarah Bay-Cheng,
  • Joseph Smith (BA ’11, BEd ’12, MEd ’14), alumnus and consultant/facilitator at Morneau Shepell,
  • Hanaa Ameer, a fourth-year undergraduate student in the health management program.

Guests have the opportunity to ask questions in advance of and during the event. Questions can be submitted to alumni@yorku.ca before April 16.

Tickets are complimentary, but registration is required. A link to the virtual event will be provided to registered guests. Register through this link.

York recognizes alumni in inaugural list of Top 30 Changemakers Under 30

Changemakers FEATURED

York University has released its first-ever list of Top 30 Changemakers Under 30, shining a spotlight on remarkable young alumni who are making a difference in their communities, the country and around the world.

decorative image that says To 30 changemakers under 30“York’s Top 30 Under 30 is a community of changemakers,” says Julie Lafford, executive director, Alumni Engagement. “Driven by passion, they create positive change and are outstanding representatives of the university, reflecting the high calibre of York alumni.”

York alumni take the education, skills and support they receive at York and develop a strong sense of purpose, a desire to create positive change, and a long-standing commitment to the public good. Those qualities are all evident in the young alumni selected.

“I am proud to know that my work with Fix the 6ix was recognized by York University,” says Deanna Lentini (BSc ’16), a physiotherapist and founder of Fix the 6ix, a thriving volunteer organization that gives back to the community and gives students opportunities to build their leadership skills. “It shows that little ideas with a lot of heart can do big things.”

Representing every Faculty at the University, these alumni are leaders working and volunteering in a variety of fields, from health and sustainability to the arts and business, and work to bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges.

“To create positive change in the world, the action starts at the local level,” says Miranda Baksh (BES ’17, MES ’19), founder and CEO of the Community Climate Council (CCC), a not-for-profit organization advocating for local climate action through enhancing climate literacy and political advocacy. “Positive change can occur when a community feels empowered and increases climate literacy and political advocacy. I hope that through our work I can keep inspiring youth, especially from underrepresented and marginalized communities, to use their voices for positive change.”

For more information on the 2021 Top 30 Changemakers Under 30, visit the website.

The 2021 Top 30 Changemakers Under 30 are:

  • Ajith Thiyagalingam, BA ’15, JD ’18, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, Osgoode Hall Law School
  • Alexandra Lutchman, BA ’14, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
  • Aurangzeb Khandwala, BA ’18, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
  • Bailey Francis, BA ’19, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
  • Basia Pozin, BBA ’17, Schulich School of Business
  • Bo Cheng, BSC ’17, MMAI ’20, Science, Schulich School of Business
  • Christine Edith Ntouba Dikongué, BA ’14, Glendon
  • Dani Roche, BDES ’13, School of Arts, Media, Performance & Design
  • David (Xiaoyu) Wang, MSCM ’20, Schulich School of Business
  • David Marrello, BBA ’15, Schulich School of Business
  • Deanna Lentini, BSC ’16, Health
  • Eunice Kays, BA ’17, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
  • Farzia Khan, BA ’17, Lassonde School of Engineering
  • Giancarlo Sessa, BBA ’19, Schulich School of Business
  • Iman Mohamed, BA ’14, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
  • Isabella Akaliza, BA ’20, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
  • Jillian Lynch, BA ’19, Health
  • Krystal Abotossaway, BHRM ’13, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
  • Larissa Crawford, BA ’18, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
  • Luke Reece, BA ’15, School of Arts, Media, Performance & Design
  • Maneesha Gupta, JD ’17, Osgoode Hall Law School
  • Matthew Ravida, BCOM ’18, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
  • Mikhaela Gray Beerman, BA ’14, MED ’18, Glendon, Education
  • Miranda Baksh, BES ‘17, MES ’19, Environmental & Urban Change
  • Nicole Doray, IBA ’17, MES ’19, Glendon, Environmental & Urban Change
  • Prakash Amarasooriya, BSC ’15, Health
  • Rana Nasrazadani, BA ’20, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
  • Rowena Tam, BA ’17, School of Arts, Media, Performance & Design
  • Shant Joshi, BFA ’17, School of Arts, Media, Performance & Design
  • Shaquille Omari, BA ’15, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies

Passings: Professor Emeritus Austin Clarkson, musicologist and writer

passings
A photo of Austin Clarkson
Austin Clarkson

Austin Clarkson, Chair of York University’s Music Department in the 1970s, has died at the age of 88. He was a musicologist and writer who published numerous articles and reviews in the fields of medieval, Renaissance, and contemporary music, as well as a book on the pianist Reginald Godden.

During his time as Chair, Clarkson brought many distinguished musicians to York’s campus including John Cage, Alvin Lucier, Max Neuhaus, Harry Somers, Pauline Oliveros, and he even had a hand in introducing jazz legend Oscar Peterson to the York community.

His interdisciplinary spirit led him to pursue many interests in music education and other artistic mediums. He studied Dalcroze eurhythmics and Laban Analysis of Movement to explore the role of the body in music learning. He also became qualified to administer the Myers Briggs Type Indicator to help students understand the psychological dynamics of teaching and learning.

In 1990, Clarkson was commissioned to introduce audio programs to the Canadian Historical Wing of the Art Gallery of Ontario. His contributions were enjoyed by visitors for over a decade as the audio recordings allowed visitors to enjoy a variety of interpretive approaches to the artworks.

“The Department of Music has lost an influential early member and former chair of the department who contributed greatly to the vision of the music program in its formative years,” says Louise Wrazen, Chair of the Music Department in the School of Arts, Media, Performance & Design. “Austin Clarkson continued his association with the department even after his retirement and remained energetically active as a researcher (with a project on the composer Stefan Wolpe) and as an educator and advocate for music. We extend our deepest condolences to his wife and family.”

2021 Wendy Michener Memorial Lecture explores art and design in climate justice

glass planet in a forest with sunshine

On March 29, the 2021 Wendy Michener Memorial Lecture will feature a dynamic group of artist-scholars from different international sites (Canada, New Zealand and the U.K.) for an engaging discussion that explores the role of art and design in climate justice.

This online event takes place from 2:30 to 4:15 p.m. and is co-presented by York University’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD), Sensorium: Centre for Digital Arts & Technology, Institute for Research on Digital Literacies (IRDL), CITY Institute, and Glendon Communications Program.

During the lecture, titled “Art, Design, and Climate Justice,” presenters Huhana Smith, Rachel Hann and Ian Garrett will reflect on the vital role that artists can play in designing for climate, urban and environmental justice. This will be the first event in the 2021 Design Justice Speaker Series, which explores how design can challenge social inequities, empower marginalized communities, and engage in worldbuilding that supports cultural and ecological survival.

Huhana Smith
Huhana Smith. Photo: Massey University

Smith is an associate professor at New Zealand’s Massey University, visual artist and curator who engages in major environmental, trans-disciplinary, kaupapa Māori, and action-research projects. She is co-principal investigator for research, which includes mātauranga Māori methods with sciences to actively address climate change concerns for coastal Māori lands in Horowhenua-Kāpiti. She is currently undertaking Phase 3 of Deep South National Science Challenge funding from the Ministry for Business Innovation and Employment, Wellington, New Zealand with additional funding that began in 2015. Smith and co-collaborators actively encourage the use of art and design’s visual systems, combined in exhibitions, to expand how solutions might integrate complex issues and make solutions more accessible for local communities.

Rachel Hann
Rachel Hann. Photo: Northumbria University

Hann is a cultural scenographer and Senior Lecturer in Performance and Design based at Northumbria University, Newcastle, U.K. Her research is focused on the material cultures of scenography, climate crisis, and trans performance. Hann is author of Beyond Scenography (Routledge, 2019), which was shortlisted for the Prague Quadrennial 2019 Publication Prize. Her next book, provisionally titled Enacting Worlds: Climate Crisis Scenographics, investigates the social, political, and cultural staging of ‘world feelings.’ Rachel also collaborates with the Design Studio for Social Intervention (Boston, U.S.), including a short article on “Justice Scenographics: Civilization change in a time of Anywheres and Somewheres.”

Ian Garrett
Ian Garrett

Garrett is a designer, producer, educator and researcher in the field of sustainability in arts and culture. He is the director of the Centre for Sustainable Practice in the Arts; associate professor of Ecological Design for Performance at York University, and producer for Toasterlab, a mixed reality performance collective. He maintains a design practice focused on ecology, technology and scenography. With Chantal Bilodeau, he co-directs the Climate Change Theatre Action. His writing includes “Arts, the Environment, and Sustainability for Americans for the Arts,” “The Carbon Footprint of Theatrical Production in Readings in Performance and Ecology,” and “Theatre is No Place for a Plant” for the Ashden Directory.

The Wendy Michener Lecture, named in commemoration of the Canadian arts critic and journalist, was established at York University in 1986 to provide a forum for discussion of vital issues and developments in culture and the arts. Some of the past presenters of the lecture include journalist Anna Maria Tremonti, artist Matthew Ritchie, and creative industries executive Hael Kobayashi.

Register for the lecture here.

Welcome to the March 2021 issue of ‘Innovatus’

Innovatus featured image

Innovatus featured image

Welcome to the March 2021 issue of ‘Innovatus,’ a special issue of YFile devoted to teaching and learning at York University. This month, ‘Innovatus’ explores some of the exciting innovations happening in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD).

Will Gage
Will Gage

I think one of the areas most impacted by the pandemic has been the fine arts because of its collaborative approach, strong focus on experiential education and the sheer physicality required to hone skills in areas such as film production, music, dance and theatre. And yet, AMPD has thrived. Faculty, staff and students have discovered new ways to develop their art while embracing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. In her eloquent letter to the community, AMPD Dean Sarah Bay-Cheng offers insight into this ingenuity, creativity and emphasis, and she illustrates how the school’s focus on great art, media, performance and design is for the greater good.

Dean Bay-Cheng’s words are exemplified by IBPOC students (Indigenous, Black and People of Colour) in AMPD who have formed a new student association. They recognized the need for an association that would work for more diversity in the school while at the same time offering a way for IBPOC students to collaborate on projects. Another terrific story that illustrates this focus on ingenuity showcases the work of graduate students and how they’ve found ways to transform their art during a pandemic.

I am also proud of the Cross-Campus Capstone Course, or C4, which is featured in this issue of ‘Innovatus.’ C4 was first developed with funding from the Academic Innovation Fund and a collaboration between AMPD Professor Danielle Robinson and Lassonde School of Engineering Professor Franz Newland. Students taking part in the summer offering of C4 will be tackling a key issue arising out of the pandemic – the need for year-round availability of community space. This is important work because people living in tiny condominiums and apartments in urban environments have been deeply affected by the confines imposed by the pandemic.

And finally, I enjoyed the feature an online series of workshops and webinars for professors and course directors. It has led to the creation of a community that stretches across all the artistic disciplines within AMPD.

There’s so much to read in this issue and I know that you will find the stories to be compelling and thought provoking. Please continue to let me know what you think about the stories we publish in ‘Innovatus.’

Featured in the March 2021 issue of ‘Innovatus’

Dean’s letter: Learning how much is possible even in the most trying of circumstances
In a letter to the community, Dean Sarah Bay-Cheng writes that even amid all the recent and ongoing challenges associated with the pandemic, there is a growing sense of optimism that collectively, we might be able to work together not only to adapt to these changes already in motion, but also to use this unusual moment in history to create a better future.

C4 crew creates an exciting, interdisciplinary summer experience for students
If the Cross-Campus Capstone Classroom (C4) piqued your curiosity, but you’ve been wary of committing to a two-semester project, rejoice: C4, the summer edition, is here. The challenge the student team will be addressing was inspired by the pandemic. The C4 students will be working with the MaRS Discovery District to look at how to make seasonal community spaces available year-round.

Grad students share challenges and successes of creation during the pandemic
Creative Shifts proved that creativity is alive and well at the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD), despite the challenges of the pandemic. The November 2020 event brought together graduate students from across AMPD to share stories of transforming their research and creation projects in response to the COVID-19 restrictions.

Creating a community for IBPOC artists
Students in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design are working to create a new association to represent the needs of student creators who are Indigenous, Black and People of Colour (IBPOC). The new IBPOC Association is set to bloom this fall.

AMPD seminars more than ‘Remotely Interesting’
‘Remotely Interesting’ is a series of online workshops that were initially intended to assist faculty with the transition to online course delivery. The series led to the creation of a community that stretched across all the artistic disciplines within the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design.

‘Innovatus’ is produced by the Office of the Associate Vice-President Teaching & Learning in partnership with Communications & Public Affairs.

I extend a personal invitation to you to share your experiences in teaching, learning, internationalization and the student experience through the ‘Innovatus’ story form, which is available at tl.apps01.yorku.ca/machform/view.php?id=16573.

Will Gage
Associate Vice-President, Teaching & Learning

Creating a community for IBPOC artists

IBPOC Student Association members FEATURED image
IBPOC Student Association members FEATURED image

Diversity is a hallmark of York University’s student body, but that diversity isn’t well-represented in the arts programs, either among students or faculty, says Gloria Mampuya, a fourth-year theatre major from Quebec, and Marvin Darkwa, a third-year screenwriting major from Toronto.

“Sometimes, I can feel really out of place in a white space when I’m the only Black person there,” said Mampuya. “It can be weird and intimidating.”

Darkwa remembers his orientation day at Winters College, York’s arts college. “There were 500 kids, and I was the only Black kid I saw,” he said. “That’s something that needs to be changed.”

Each of them separately discussed with Dean Sarah Bay-Cheng the need for a way for the IBPOC (Indigenous, Black and People of Colour) community at the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD). Bay-Cheng brought them together with Shenel Williams, a third-year dance major, and the three of them founded the IBPOC Artists Association at AMPD, an organization that offers IBPOC students a platform and a place to build community.

“This is an idea I’d had for about two years, but I didn’t know how to make it happen,” said Mampuya. “During that time, I was in communication with different people in my department about issues of equality and inclusion that I found missing in the theatre program. A lot of the curriculum is very Eurocentric and other students don’t feel represented.”

The Artists Association team: Top row: Trinity Lloyd, Abigail McEyeson, Hasib Rahim, Michelle Tieu, Shenel Williams Middle: Sarah Ayoub, Gloria Mampuya, Tamara Mobarak (middle and bottom), Laura Logan, Marvin Darkwa Bottom: Wasifa Noshin, Tamara Mobarak, Felix Hao, Isabel Misquitta-Yip Missing from the photo are Naomi Lopez-Morales and Daraksha Rehman
The IBPOC Artists Association team: Top row, from left, Trinity Lloyd, Abigail McEyeson, Hasib Rahim, Michelle Tieu and Shenel Williams. Middle row, from left, Sarah Ayoub, Gloria Mampuya, Tamara Mobarak (middle and bottom), Laura Logan and Marvin Darkwa. Bottom row, from left, Wasifa Noshin, Tamara Mobarak, Felix Hao, and Isabel Misquitta-Yip. Missing from the photo are Naomi Lopez-Morales and Daraksha Rehman

Mampuya and Darkwa have found that many AMPD students are subject to race-related micro- and macro-aggressions and discrimination and are left feeling isolated.

“Discrimination is built into the system,” said Mampuya. “The association provides a space where students can speak about it and feel heard and supported. Every time I wonder if there is really a need for this group, there’s always confirmation. We want to work toward systemic change, because prejudice does cause real harm.”

Darkwa believes strongly that a diversity of voices is important at all levels within AMPD and believes the association can help make that happen. “If you exclude minority groups from the greater conversation, you miss out on important perspectives,” he said.

Once the founding trio came together, Mampuya immediately dove into the organizational aspects of creating an association and has been writing a constitution that will allow the group to be recognized as an official York University student group. Meanwhile, they created an association executive team that includes one representative from each AMPD department, along with a secretary, a chief returning officer, an ombudsperson and a director of promotions.

“The main goal of the association is to ensure that IBPOC voices are represented in every aspect of decision-making in AMPD,” said Mampuya. “We are acting as a bridge between the students and the people in power.”

“There are certainly issues we’d like to raise and discuss,” added Darkwa.

The group is planning to launch formally this fall with a meet-and-greet event, whether it takes place in person or online.

“It’s nice to be with peers who have gone through similar experiences,” said Mampuya. “You can just be yourself. I want this association to succeed so badly because I know how difficult it can be to be alone with only a few students for support. An association will bring a lot more influence and student activists will be able to speak up for all of us. It will also allow us to collaborate and create multi-disciplinary works.”

Although she is graduating and won’t be on campus to see the association blossom, Darkwa, Williams and the rest of the executive will carry on.

“We’re building a foundation so that the association will be sustainable and have longevity,” said Mampuya.

By Elaine Smith, special contributing writer to Innovatus

AMPD seminars more than ‘Remotely Interesting’

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Student working on a computer

A series of online workshops initially intended to assist faculty with the transition to online course delivery led to the creation of a community that stretched across all the artistic disciplines within the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD).

“Remotely Interesting,” as the series was called, was the creation of Tim Hampton, AMPD’s director of computing, with assistance from a committee of his AMPD peers.

“Due to the pandemic, 2020 was a year of rapid eLearning adoption in AMPD, relying on technologies including video streaming and online delivery systems,” said Hampton. “Although the school was already strongly committed to online classes, preparations and capacity were not evenly distributed.”

Hampton set about rectifying the disparities by creating a series that he considered “an extension of the lunchtime ‘brown bag’ sessions held in AMPD before the pandemic.”

The sessions became even more important once it became clear that pandemic restrictions would extend beyond the summer. “It was a big transformation for the University,” Hampton said. “Staff, students and instructors all expected to be on campus in the fall, but, instead, we all had to work, learn and teach from home.

“Our sessions were technical at first, talking about how to teach effectively online, but over time, it became as much about helping each other as anything else.”

Hampton likens it to a “variety show” with lots of different performers, including staff from the Teaching Commons discussing universal, accessible course design and the copyright office staff talking about intellectual property. There were technical sessions with instructions on technologies such as Moodle, Zoom and Microsoft Stream and best practices specific to disciplines such as dance and music. There were also faculty panels and panels of students who provided important feedback about effective teaching and course organization.

Hampton and his team also created a Microsoft Teams site for faculty so they could meet and speak to each other asynchronously. It allowed them to help each other with technical issues they encountered outside normal business hours and assemble an online resource of problems found and solved.

Boyan Demchuk, a fourth-year film production student and president of the Winters College Council, helped Hampton by organizing the student panels and participating on a few of them.

“Our main focus was helping faculty understand how students had experienced their summer classes and assessing what worked and what needed improvement for online learning,” Demchuk said. “I think it has helped.”

He noted that it was challenging for everyone at AMPD to move in-person studio courses online in what are often physically demanding programs.

“It was a good experience participating in these panels,” he said. “We got some really productive conversations to happen.”

Hampton agreed, noting, “Students offered very thoughtful advice and feedback. Faculty members were receptive to their constructive ideas.”

Jennifer Bolt, PhD, an adjunct professor and course director in the Department of Dance, offered a series of workshops on the PRIMED™ model for student retention, health and well-being that she created and employs in her own courses. She also attended a number of the Remotely Interesting sessions to learn from others.

“Remotely Interesting was one of the silver linings of the pandemic,” Bolt said. “It got people across all departments in AMPD online together and there was a real connection formed between faculty from all of the art forms. It was challenging for all of us to take our 3D art forms and adapt them into a 2D learning sphere.”

She says rather than allowing faculty be in a place where “isolation and loneliness overwhelmed us,” Remotely Interesting used “what kept us apart [technology] to bring us together. I hope it won’t stop; it was such a gem.”

Hampton is confident that Remotely Interesting has had an impact on the landscape at AMPD.

“Even if we return to campus in the fall, there may be more interest among faculty in teaching online,” he said. “They may, at least, offer students the option of reviewing lectures and presentations online.

“Can we teach online effectively now? Yes. Do we want to? That will probably come down to an individual decision.”

Although the sessions became less frequent as faculty settled into their remote course delivery roles, Hampton plans to hold Remotely Interesting events periodically and ramp up again in the summer when faculty have a bit more time.

“I’m looking forward to holding a session in person,” he said. “I’d also like to have our Remotely Interesting material edited so that any AMPD instructors new to teaching online will have a playbook to get themselves started.”

By Elaine Smith, special contributing writer to Innovatus