Chair's Welcome
Photo by Michael Barker
Welcome to Image Arts at The Creative School for Fall Semester 2023
Welcome to our school! Whether it’s your first time walking through the door or your 400th —we are glad you are here. Founded in 1948 as an institute of technology, our hallmark has always been hands-on learning informed by professional practice. As Canada’s premiere school in film, photography and digital arts, our curricula continually adopt new innovations, while retaining analog as a key aspect of learning craft. Balancing practice and theory, and set within a leading institution for research and innovation, we prepare our students to excel in a dynamic interdisciplinary arts and media landscape. Striving towards a just and equitable world, we take on difficult questions, asking you to help us shape better and more sustainable practices.
We offer an exciting lineup of courses and experiential learning activities. Our dedicated faculty and staff are here to inspire, guide and support you in achieving your learning. We encourage you to build new relationships in your classes and studios. At Image Arts you will find a community through your many shared learning experiences—the networks you establish now will sustain you for years to come.
Get involved in the extracurricular activities taking place at our school, including screenings, lectures and openings, and share your own work with others in our exhibition spaces: the Image Factory, Gallery 310 and our Vitrines spaces are open to all media. Submit your work (google form) here (external link) , and be sure to visit our off-site gallery, Artspace (external link) at 401 Richmond Street West. Check out Function Magazine (external link) , a visual art and culture publication curated, designed, and produced by a team of 4th-year students. In addition to the rich resources offered by our campus, enjoy the many social, professional and cultural activities in downtown Toronto.
As aspiring filmmakers, you will be working toward your premieres at our annual Image Arts Film Festival (external link) (IMAFF, formerly RUFF), showcasing the films of graduating students, serving as a platform to launch their careers in film and connect with leading industry professionals. As media makers in the expanded field you will be working toward exhibiting your lens-based work in Maximum Exposure (external link) (MaxEx), the annual showcase featured throughout our building.
Our BFA programs in Film and Photography are brought to life by internationally-recognised faculty members, active visual and media arts makers, curators and researchers working across many disciplines. Our cutting edge Integrated Digital courses combine and extend aspects of film and photography, including motion graphics, animation, VR/AR, creative coding, multi-channel video, projection mapping, digital media installations, and 3D modeling. Our two graduate programs are highly regarded in Canada and beyond. The MFA in Documentary Media connects traditions to innovative ways of producing documentary work. The MA in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management (F+PPCM) explores solutions to the challenges that institutions face in managing and developing object- and digital-based collections, with an unparalleled residency program.
The Image Centre (external link) , which evolved from the school’s early modest holdings, hosts an exceptional roster of international exhibitions and artist talks and serves as a premier venue for exceptional student work.
I look forward to meeting you and wish you a very successful and rewarding year.
Katy McCormick, Interim Chair
School of Image Arts
We acknowledge that Toronto is in the 'Dish With One Spoon Territory’. The Dish With One Spoon is a treaty between the Anishinaabe, Mississaugas and Haudenosaunee that bound them to share the territory and protect the land. Subsequent Indigenous Nations and peoples, Europeans and all newcomers have been invited into this treaty in the spirit of peace, friendship and respect.