SCA Area Check-in
Are you a new or returning SCA student? Here are each area's plans and proposals for the fall 2020 semester, in response to the ongoing pandemic. For updated information about SFU's responses to the pandemic, check out their COVID-19 FAQ page.
Dance
We have been busy planning for the fall semester and excited about trying a different format and including new areas of focus we haven’t had before. For some of you, the fall may be an opportunity to take electives you need for graduation, as well.
Our first priority is safety. Based on where we are with COVID-19, we did not see any safe way to have in-person courses. While we will stay open to the possibility of coming together in some way if the situation improves dramatically, we will be offering all our courses online. We do not want to require you to travel on public transit or even be in Vancouver if that creates risk. We also want to recognize the financial implications of moving in this time. We will keep all the fall courses in their normal time slots, so you don’t lose step with your schedule and other courses. Technique classes will consist of 50-minute blocks that include barre, yoga or other warms ups, and then movement sessions with faculty and guests. We are also excited to have Gaga online sessions included in the week for all students. Composition will include a focus on dance on screen and Repertory will be facilitated for online performance with new works by guest artists. We don’t want to tell you who the guest artist/teachers are for some of these courses yet because it’s not confirmed (but we really want to because they are great!).
We are committed to working with you to develop methods allowing you to evolve a comprehensive practice. We also want to acknowledge this historic time in context to our work – how we move through it – and how we might respond. This is a time to connect with the world at large as we are all going through this together.
Film
We are currently in the midst of planning for the fall term, so things are in flux. That said, we anticipate that all film studies and film production courses will be online. We plan to offer all of the core production classes that students require to graduate, such as CA 130, 230, 390 and 430, and we are thinking about shifting to the fall classes normally taught in the spring--such as CA 238: Screenwriting--and which lend themselves more readily to online teaching. We are also considering moving classes such as CA 339: Directing, and CA 232: Film Sound, to the spring term, as these elective classes really benefit from in-person instruction.
We are hoping to be able to offer equipment loans to students living locally in the fall, but at this time we cannot promise to be able to do so, as the ability to offer such loans depends on guidance from the University and the Provincial government.
While our production classes will not be able to replicate in-person instruction, we will still strive to foster a sense of community amongst our students and to generate ways for creating work that we will be able to share online. Classes will not be 3-hour lectures! We will seek ways to make them as hands on and as creative as possible and to avoid having you spend your days staring at screens.
We're also hoping to take advantage of some of the opportunities the current situation might offer: for example, we hope to bring in filmmakers and other professionals, who are otherwise usually too busy with their productions, for master classes, feedback sessions, and conversations. We also want to explore online exhibition formats and look, for example, at the various ways film festivals are adapting to online life.
In every case, we'll adapt to the technical limitations that circumstances present. Before classes begin, we will survey students about their access to technology such as computers, editing gear, cameras/smart phones, etc. and take that into consideration as we finalize our courses. Should you worry about what kind of work can be made with less-than-optimal equipment, remember how many films and how much moving image art in the past number of years have shown what amazing work can be created with the simplest of means: feature films have been shot on smart phones and edited on laptops; popular films have been successfully released entirely online; film festivals are finding new ways to reach broader, more diverse audiences; and amazing forms of collaboration are emerging all over.
Though of course we'd rather welcome you into the classrooms and the soundstage and editing suites in person, we will take inspiration from such things. We firmly believe that the pandemic offers a real opportunity to do more than just "get by." It offers a chance to do something new in an unforeseen moment.
Music
Seeing the current circumstances as an opportunity to expand our regular modes of working, we are designing a fall term in which our students will be able to workshop their projects with professional musicians from around the globe. While we won’t be able to meet in person and share a space, we will use this unique setting of an online platform to hire exceptional international musicians who we would otherwise not have access to. This first round invites musicians based in Graz (Austria), London (UK), Seville (Spain), and Montreal (Canada) who will be available on a weekly basis for 1-1 sessions. Engaging with these performers through video conferencing, students will have the opportunity for remote individual consultations for whatever purpose fits their project. For example, students can ask for specific instrumental advice, hear examples performed live, request samples or sections to be recorded in high quality so that it can be used in studio work, etc.
Students in 245/6 and 245/6 will meet online for weekly tutorials in groups of three, while students in 445/6 will receive individual online supervision meetings with their chosen faculty.
Our students will continue to have the opportunity to interact with one another in our “Soundbox” course, working online in small groups to explore the potential of all manner of collective sound-making, with additional collaborative opportunities with students in other disciplines.
First-year students will have the opportunity to take newly revised versions of CA104 to discover the fundamentals of sound and creativity, CA145 to begin experimenting hands-on with making music and in-depth discussions based around listening to a great variety of music, and CA140 to learn about the context of creative sound practices in the 21st century.
Theatre Performance
We are consulting with Theatre Companies and Universities across the world to share resources and ensure that we provide the best possible training. Some things we are preparing include a line-up of international guest master artists that will weekly be available to students, along with a continued emphasis in all our classes to examine the current moment we live in and dream up new modes of performance. I can also promise that each class won't be 3 hours of online lecturing. We will find a way to vary the teaching and delivery methods so that instruction can be accessed at a variety of times, include one-on-one coaching, and not always involve staring at a screen.
In the Fall, there will still be performance opportunities and we plan on having a season of shows. The Fall MainStage will be devised by two dance choreographers, Erika Mitsuhashi and Francesca Frewer. We don't know yet whether it will be online and/or performed in a theatre without an audience to be shared via live-feed and/or performed outside. This depends on who they cast, the geographic locations of those they cast, and whether all these things remain possible and safe. Regardless of the set-up, they are amazing artists who are continuing to find ways to work through this pandemic. It's a great opportunity to work with professional artists grappling with the same problems you will have as a student theatre-artist at SFU.
You can learn more about Erica and Francesca's work HERE.
There will also be performance opportunities through the Directing Projects. These are normally one act plays held in a festival format, but we're now encouraging a range of forms for the Festival, from site specific performances, digital gatherings, and sound walks, to forms yet to be invented. These projects often involve first year actors on a voluntary basis.
Theatre Production Design
Production and Design classes will be online in fall. Along with our continued commitment to significant learning opportunities, the safety and wellbeing of our students is of utmost importance to us during this time. We will be offering our regular fall courses: CA170, 171, 270, 271, 374, 370 and 470, all modified to provide remote access to content, cohort engagement, and progression in your chosen areas.
Upper year production courses will be held as master classes in design and production processes, emerging technologies, and contemporary movements. We will be hosting a series of weekly talks from international professional artists giving students access to professionals at the forefront of their field. Students will work on independent projects, focusing on preparing and collecting materials for post-graduation success. Students should expect ample one-on-one remote time with instructors.
First year production courses will provide foundations in industry specific processes and techniques, ideas and contexts. Second year courses deepen students' understanding of technique and process through practice and refinement. Students will also continue to take university and program requirements outside the area.
Our instruction will emphasize a flexible learning environment, with many of our classes allowing for students to work largely at their own time with adaptable structures for engagement and feedback. We are very aware of the importance of maintaining cohort cohesion and culture and hope to hear from you about ways you would like to connect with your peers.
We look forward to welcoming our new and returning students in the fall and a great year together!
Visual Art
In the fall of 2020 the Visual Art Faculty (Sabine Bitter, Raymond Boisjoly, Elspeth Pratt, Judy Radul, Kathy Slade) will be using our abilities as artists and thinkers to structure conversations that look at the role of art, culture, theory in relation to aesthetic, spatial, societal, political and technological change. Yes, more or less what we usually do while trying to be responsive to the pandemic situation, but not overdetermined by it. Like you, some days we are a bit overwhelmed by questions of how we adapt, resist, respond, to the pandemic, and other days we are energized by change. We want to recognize that great artworks have often arisen out of difficult or limiting situations. We are considering the changes in modes of interpersonal relations, the role of government, the understanding of human/animal/ecological interconnectedness, new modes of work, concepts of the global, and of course new models for the production and presentation of art. We don’t have to make the pandemic the focus, but rather, to be responsive to our heightened sense of history in the making.
We are developing a new way of centering the Visual Art curriculum around a series of high profile international visiting artists presentations called The Visual Art Forum. We imagine talks and break out groups where you are engaged with a range of amazing artists.
In the next months, planning for the fall, each faculty member will be adjusting their course content and structure to reflect some of the specifics of online education. We are finding new ways to structure the class time, working to incorporate a variety of groups and one on one modes. We are also hoping for more Teaching Assistant positions because we recognize that online learning in smaller groups and even one on one is effective. We understand none of us want to be continuously staring at a screen and there will continue to be an emphasis on hands on and off-line assignments.
Art, Performance, and Cinema Studies
With advance notice that we will be teaching online this fall, we are working hard to design rewarding courses and interactions for APCS students. Laura, Claudette, Eldritch, Peter, Chris, Henry, and Denise have been brainstorming ways to maintain our extraordinarily strong teacher-student and student-student connections from a distance. So far we’ve decided to: stick to scheduled course times; build a sense of social connection through regular small group check-ins and class discussions; post pre-recorded lectures for large classes; collaborate with other areas to host exciting guest speakers; and create assignments that foster meaningful collaboration between students. Foremost in our minds is that we connect personally with each and every one of you to best support your success in our BA program.
Because of the vast array of digital resources for the study of the arts—from films and videos, podcasts and museum tours, to digitally accessible art collections and exhibitions, e-books and journals--there has never been a better time to learn online. In view of the pandemic, some of our fall courses will examine how the study of the arts can help us to understand the crisis, shedding light on human loss, human community, financial hardship, the rise in racism, mental illness and extreme loneliness, and the technological and ecological impacts of digital media. By offering insights into our multiple entanglements with each other as well as other living and nonliving entities, APCS courses aim to keep you grounded and connected during these challenging times.