The CAFAD Newsletter

egistration is underway for the 2006 CAFAD AGM and Symposium to be hosted by the Emily Carr Institute in Vancouver, October 26 – 28.

9:45am-11:45am: Panel: Art and Science: Fusion and Confusion - Maria Lantin, Director, Intersections Digital Studio

1:45pm-4:00pm: Panel: Artist as Researcher: What's Up With That?- Randy Lee Cutler, Associate Dean, Emily Carr Institute

4:30pm-6:00pm: President's Reception at Charles H Scott Gallery, Emily Carr Institute

1. Updates on Retirement Policies, Succession Planning and Faculty Recruitment
2. Health and Safety and Risk Management in Fine Arts Education

obody would ever suggest that School of Music founding director D. F. Cook was in need of a make-over. D. F. Cook Hall, on the other hand, is a whole other matter. After more than twenty years of loving use, Newfoundland and Labrador’s premiere recital venue was in need of more than a bit of nip and tuck. Last year, in partnership with the Department of Canadian Heritage’s Cultural Spaces Canada, we were able to complete some major structural and technical upgrades. Once again in 2006 Canadian Heritage has waved its make-over wand in our direction, this time with funds to metamorphose the hall back into the raving beauty of its youth. New carpeting, luxurious (and silent!) new seating and the first paint job in twenty years has transformed the hall from its dowdy acoustic perfection to an absolute knockout. The “wow factor” is back!

Work on the make-over was completed on June 24^th, just in time to welcome the Magnetic North Theatre Festival, followed in quick succession by Sound Symposium, the St. John’s Jazz Festival and the Tuckamore Festival: Chamber Music in Newfoundland and Labrador. With barely time catch our breath, the School of Music only now has the opportunity to celebrate the totally renewed facility with its friends and supporters. The date set for the rededication of the Hall is September 11^th with a gala concert at 8 pm. The program will feature spectacular performances by School of Music alumni, faculty and students, as well as a representation of some of the musicians from the Newfoundland and Labrador community who call D. F. Cook Hall their favourite performance venue.

As excited as we are about the D. F. Cook make-over, we have not forgotten the essential contribution of those who donated so significantly to the construction of the hall twenty plus years ago through the “purchase” of seats. Before this round of renovations began, we carefully removed all 249 dedicatory plaques and are re-mounting them on a wall of honour which will be installed in the entrance to the Hall. An added benefit: now you won’t have to sit in every seat in the house to find out who to thank for supporting out wonderful concert venue! “

n May, Professor Michael Coyne, Founding Head of the Department of Visual Arts and Professor Ken Livingstone, Founding Head of the Department of Theatre, were inducted into the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council “Hall of Honour” for their contributions to the arts community in Newfoundland and Labrador. The School of Fine Arts opened in September 1988. Also in May Professor Marlene MacCallum, Printmaker, Visual Arts, and Professor Don Foulds, Sculpture, Visual Arts were inducted into the Royal Canadian Academy.

In July the Theatre Department’s original production of Fear of Flight created in association with Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland played to standing-room only houses at the Magnetic North Festival in St. John’s.

In August School of Fine Arts Head, Ken Livingstone directed The Tempest for Rising Tide Theatre’s Trinity Festival. The production featured an original score by Newfoundland’s legendary musicians Pamela Morgan and Figgy Duff.

ncoming Dalhousie violin student, Paul Medeiros, is the recipient of the 2006 Hnatyshyn Foundation Developing Artist Grant in Classical Music (Orchestral Instrument), an award given to a student entering first year in a music performance program. Paul is a student of Prof. Philippe Djokic.

Dalhousie soprano, Maureen Batt, of Fredericton, N.B. placed second at the 2006 National Musical Festival held in Thunder Bay, Ontario in August. Maureen is entering her fourth year of a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance, studying with Professor Marcia Swanston.

Members of the Performance Faculty were heard in numerous Summer Music Festivals: Philippe Djokic (Ottawa Int’l. Chamber Music Festival, Clear Lake Music Festival, New Brunswick Music Festival), Lynn Stodola (Ottawa), Peter Allen (Scotia Festival, Kincardin and New Brunswick).

Marcia Swanston, mezzo soprano spent the month of April rehearsing and performing with Vancouver Opera in their critically acclaimed production of Faust. She sang with Symphony Nova Scotia in two performances of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and shared a recital in idyllic Mahone Bay with baritone, Andrew Tees.

Dr. Jennifer Bain had an article in Plainsong and Medieval Music and this summer received national media attention (CBC Radio, the Globe and Mail, the Montreal Gazette, the Toronto Star etc.) for her research on the Salzinnes Antiphonal, a magnificent 16th-century manuscript owned by the Patrick Power Library at St. Mary's University in Halifax.

Josh MacDonald and Anthony Black (Theatre Studies), Susan Leblanc, Peter Horne and Andrea Leigh Smith (Acting).

Dr. Kate Bredeson is joining the Department for two years on a Killam postdoctoral fellowship.

Dr. Jure Gantar has just returned from a year long sabbatical that was spent in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Jennifer Overton (Acting) premiered her first play, God's Middle Name, based on life with her autistic son, at Eastern Front Theatre's On The Waterfront Festival in May 2006. The response to the production was very positive, and a
remount in Halifax and subsequent tour are in being planned for next year.

Bruce Mac Lennan (Technical/Scenography) designed lighting for "God's Middle Name" and for "The Mystery of Maddy Heisler" and "Lillibet" two new Canadian plays for Ship's Company Theatre in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia.

The 2006-07 DalTheatre season:
A History of the American Film, by Christopher Durang, October 17 to 21, 2006
Marathon ?33, by June Havoc, Nov.28 to Dec. 2, 2006
A Dream Play, by August Strindberg, Feb. 6 to 10, 2007
The Bourgeois Gentleman, by Molière, Mar. 27 to 31, 2007

ean Catherine Wild is pleased to announce that the Faculty of Fine Arts has been awarded a new Tier-2 Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Inter-X Art Practice and Theory, for Sandeep Bhagwati in the Departments of Music and Theatre. Tier-2 chairs are for exceptional emerging researchers, acknowledged by their peers as having the potential to lead their field. Tier-2 Chairs are awarded $100,000 annually for five years.

In addition to the CRC recognition and funding, Professor Bhagwati has also been awarded another $50 000 in funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation for his MATRA ((Movement/Media/Music) (Art) (Theatre/Theory) (Research) (Agency)) project.

Professor Bhagwati arrived at Concordia in August from Musikhochschule Karlsruhe in Germany, where he teaches multimedia composition. At Concordia, he will use interdisciplinary art practices to bridge the gap between emerging art forms and their aesthetic reflection. The aim of his research is to establish a practical and theoretical framework for the creation and evaluation of inter-disciplinary, inter-cultural, inter-media and inter-active art.

Dr. Truong Vo-Van, Vice-Provost, Research, and Chair of the University Research Awards Adjudication Committee, announced that Dr. Catherine Russell, from the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, was the recipient of the (senior) 2006 University Research Award.

From June 7^thto August 28^th the Centre for the Arts in Human Development invited the Concordia community to a vernissage of artwork by its participants at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The works by adults with developmental or related disabilities were on display as the result of the participants’ involvement in a series of workshops in the Education and Public Programmes Department of the Museum.

he Schulich School of Music is thrilled to announce that it will host the Sixth Annual Future of Music Policy Summit, October 5 – 7, 2006, in conjunction with Festival Pop Montreal.

FMC's Policy Summit is known as one of the year's most important music/technology/policy conferences – the place where musicians, industry and policymakers engage in core issues in a meaningful way. In 2006, for the first time, FMC will expand these conversations to the world stage by presenting the Summit in Montreal, Canada, in collaboration with McGill University's Schulich School of Music and Pop Montreal.

Join us for conversations about international copyright issues, new revenue streams, digital rights management, and how orchestras are navigating change. Learn how musicians are dealing with new marketing and licensing options. Attend special sessions on audio fidelity, archiving and preservation, international touring/visas, and sampling/remixing. For more information visit the FMC Summit website at:

native of Seoul, South Korea, Jinny M.J. Yu has lived in Seoul, Montreal, Toronto, Sackville, and Venice and is presently living in Ottawa. She holds an MFA and MBA degree from York University and from Schulich School of Business and a BFA degree from Concordia University.

Since 1996, Yu’s works have been shown in numerous exhibitions, in museums and galleries across Canada, in the U.S., Japan and Russia. An artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre in 1999, at Stiftung Starke in Berlin in 2004, at Red Gate Gallery in Beijing in 2005, and a grant recipient of Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec, Jinny Yu has previously taught at York University in Toronto and at Mount Allison University before coming to teach at University of Ottawa. From 2005, she has also taken part on research projects at the Center for Studies on Technologies in Distributed Intelligence Systems at the Venice International University. She has given guest lectures at various educational institutions, such as Sangmyung University in Seoul, Korea, NSCAD University in Halifax, Concordia University and Cegep Rosemont in Montreal.

Represented by the Galerie Art Mûr in Montreal, her paintings are featured in various museum, corporation, foundation and private collections.

he Faculty of Fine Arts and The Accolade Project, York’s magnificent new teaching, performance and exhibition complex, were the beneficiaries of the 2006 Brazilian Carnival Ball, Canada’s premier fundraising gala, held at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in May. The event, attended by more than 1,700 people from the arts, business, fashion, finance and social scene, resulted in a contribution of $2-million to support the capital campaign for the Accolade Project and graduate and undergraduate student scholarships in Fine Arts.

Last month saw the launch of a new interdisciplinary, professional development program offered jointly by York University and the Ontario Arts Council: a Certificate Course in Arts Education designed for artists who present special arts education projects in Ontario schools. The course brought 42 professional musicians, dancers, theatre artists, writers and visual artists to York to study the stages of child and adolescent development and current issues in education. The course was developed by Fine Arts Associate Dean Belarie Zatzman in collaboration with Kathleen Gould Lundy, who teaches in the Faculties of Education and Fine Arts at York, and Steven Campbell, director of community partnerships at the OAC. “From exploring the arts as a form of literacy, to examining best practices in arts in education, this certificate reflects contemporary educational practices which provoke questions and acknowledge the complexity of teaching the arts,” Zatzman said.

York Dances
York was Canada’s dance central in July as the Department of Dance hosted a series of international gatherings, including the pinnacle dance conference of the year: the World Dance Alliance Global Assembly 2006. Produced and organized by dance department Chair Mary Jane Warner, the WDA Assembly brought together more than 300 dance artists, scholars and students from more than 20 countries for discussions and performances around the theme Dance/Diversity/Dialogue: Bridging Communities and Cultures. International presenters include Dance Forum Taipei (Taiwan), Conny Janssen Danst (The Netherlands), Surdance Ensemble (Argentina) and Contempodanza (Mexico). Canadian artists included Karen Jamieson Dance Company with Byron Chief-Moon, Calgary’s Bird Soul Productions and York alumna Debra Brown, choreographer for nine Cirque du Soleil productions. The WDA Global Assembly was book-ended by Living Ritual: World Indigenous Dance Festival organized by First Nations dancer-choreographer and York alumna Santee Smith, and The CORPS de Ballet International Conference, co-hosted by York’s dance department and Canada’s National Ballet School and co-organized by York dance professor Claire Wootten.

Student Honours
York film student Ryan Knight was the National Film Board of Canada’s official English-language cinematographer at the Ceremony of Remembrance held on July 1 in France to mark the 90th anniversary of the Battles of the Somme and Beaumont Hamel. Knight was awarded this honour when his production, The Road of the World, won first prize in the Make Shorts Not War film competition co-sponsored by the NFB, Veterans Affairs Canada and the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa. His film was chosen from some 280 entries across Canada.

Third-year York/Sheridan design student Nelson Cheng beat out 200 competitors to win the Canadian leg of the Bombay Sapphire Designer Glass Competition for his design of a martini glass. Cheng's prize included the opportunity to select an internship from a list of leading design studios in Canada and the U.S. as well as a trip to Milan, where he represented Canada at the global Bombay Sapphire finals. He spent the summer interning at the New York studio of world-renowned design guru Karim Rashid.

avid Tucker, Chair of the School of Radio and Television Arts received the 2006 Media Award for Excellence in health reporting from the Canadian Medical Association and the Canadian Nurses Association for his documentary Change of Heart.

Finbarr O’Reilly, a graduate from the School of Journalism, won the prestigious World Press Photo of the Year 2005 award for an image of a one-year old malnourished child and his mother in Niger.

The inaugural Toronto International Deaf Film and Arts Festival (TIDFAF) took place in May 2006 under the founding leadership of Catherine MacKinnon, a 2004 graduate from the School of Image Arts.

Fashion - Allison Matthews David, Kimberly Wahl, Joseph Medaglia, Grahame Lynch.

In September 2006, Ryerson was an official venue of the Toronto International Film Festival, and in May 2006, hosted Sprockets, TIFFG’s children’s film festival. In May 2006, Timothy Moore, an Image Arts graduate, won top prize in TIFFG’s Student Film Showcase for his two minute film Colourbars.

Final year collections of fashion graduates were showcased windows of the Holt Renfrew’s Bloor Street store in July/August, while three graduating Fashion students, Tanya Tessier, Mary-Helen-Muldoon, and Danielle Meder sold their designs at HBC and Zellers over the past year.

This summer, Ingrid Haas, Sophia Walker, and Aidan de Salaiz, graduates of the Theatre School, performed either with the Stratford or Blythe Festivals. Another graduate, Natalie Lisinska, starred in the CBC miniseries At the Hotel. The Ryerson School of Interior Design also played host to the HGTV reality mini-series Design Interns which airs this October.

Dr. Michael Murphy, School of Radio and Television Arts, received a $400,000 grant from Communications and Information Technology Canada to research the impact of the Semantic Web in facilitating industrial design and manufacturing in the automotive sector.

FCAD launches four new graduate programs in including: Master of Business Administration in Management and Innovation with a field of study in Media Management (fall 2006); Master of Arts in Media Production (fall 2007); Master of Fine Arts in documentary Media (fall 2007); and Master of Journalism (fall 2007).

he Faculty of Music received its second Provost’s Academic Initiative Fund grant, this one to support its global music education initiative, Thinking Outside the Bachs: The Global Music Initiative. The grant will help the Faculty expand its number of ongoing world music ensembles to at least seven, build new facilities for world music ensemble rehearsal, bring to campus leading artists from around the world for 9-month residencies, initiate international exchange programs, and contribute to cultural programming and education with the Toronto District School Board and the community at large. The Faculty of Music also received support from the University’s new Student Experience Fund to replace all of its seating, develop a paperless registrarial system, and renovate student gathering spaces.

Scholarships The Faculty of Music has established two awards that will act as a boost to the fledgling careers of graduates. These $25,000 awards go to graduating students deemed to have the greatest potential to make an important contribution to the field of music with students from all faculty divisions being eligible. The inaugural Tecumseh Sherman Rogers Graduating Award goes to organist Ryan Jackson. This award was established by John B. Lawson in memory of his grandfather. The William and Phyllis Waters Graduating Award of the same amount goes to violinist Sarah Nematallah. This award honours the founders of the Waters Challenge Fund in Music and is funded through a gift from James and Margaret Fleck in combination with donations from music alumni and patrons to the Springboard Student Awards program.

Christopher Ku was named a Fellow of the Royal Canadian College of Organists after having completed theoretical and practical examinations in organ performance, church music and comprehensive musical skills with the highest standards. At age 22, the youngest organist ever to be named a Fellow since the foundation of the RCCO, he received three scholarships: The Willan Scholarship (for highest overall marks), The Doreen Porter Prize (for highest marks in the test portion of the Practical exam), and The Heather Spry Prize (for highest marks in theoretical work). Christopher is in his fourth year as an undergraduate student majoring in Organ Performance and studying with John Tuttle.

Andrew Staniland (D.Mus candidate), Aaron Gervais (B.Mus, 2005) and Henry J. Ng (M.Mus candidate) are among this year's winners at the SOCAN Foundation Awards for Young Composers. Aaron Gervais was awarded first prize (Pierre Mercure Awards) in the "solo or duet compositions" category for Culture No. 1 for harp, piano and audio samples. Andrew Staniland captured first prize (Hugh Le Caine Awards) in the "electronic and electro acoustic music" category for Despite Bright Ideas. Andrew was also awarded second prize in the "solo or duet compositions" category for Air, three short pieces for percussion and accordion. Henry J. Ng was awarded third prize in the "solo and duet compositions" category for Extension, for electric bassoon and digital signal processing. This year’s competition attracted 210 entries, with 15 award recipients receiving a total $26,250 in prizes.

he Association for Theatre in Higher Education named Diana Mady Kelly, Professor Emeritus and past director of the School of Dramatic Art, as the 2006 Outstanding Teacher of Theatre in Higher Education at their annual conference in August.

The University of Windsor was the first Canadian institution to host The Michael Chekhov Association’s annual International Michael Chekhov Workshop and Festival on July 6 through 15. The School of Dramatic Art welcomed approximately 80 actors, directors, and university professors from seven different countries to its Jackman Dramatic Art Centre. The annual event features the training of actors, directors, and educators in the acting techniques of Michael Chekhov (nephew of playwright Anton Chekhov).

The School of Dramatic Art and Sibling Rivalry offered a two week intensive stage combat workshop this August. One hundred percent of participants passed their Academy of Dramatic Combat certification exam.

David French will be visiting the University of Windsor yet again, this time for the opening night of the University Players’ 2006-2007 season opener, That Summer by David French.

The School of Music is pleased to welcome two new tenure-track professors. Dr. Janice Waldron work with Music Education students and Dr. Charity Marsh will be teaching courses and doing research on popular music and ethnomusicology. We are also pleased to welcome Dr. Lucanne Magill into our Music Therapy program.

The School is making great strides in pursuit of its new goal of embracing diverse musics and innovation. The School now offers private instruction in jazz and popular music and is working towards a combined Music Therapy and Social Work degree.

The LeBel Gallery in the School of Visual Arts is undergoing a facelift. This exhibition space is being transformed to a new white box space just in time for students to launch their year of exhibitions.

Professor Emeritus Iain Baxter will travel to Barcelona to execute a print project at the Poligrafa Obra Grafica facility and his 2005 retrospective exhibition curated by Gallery Vox will travel to the Museum of Contemporary Art in Nice this fall.