Course Descriptions

Students will study the histories, theories, and practices of various contemporary performative arts. Various artistic disciplines and concepts of performativity are examined, such as: installation art, performance art, postmodern and contemporary dance, video art, sound art, performance of gender, indigenous land-based performance, and post-dramatic theatre. Students will develop critical thinking about art and performance in order to sharpen analysis and expand their understanding of what contemporary performance might be. Concepts covered are intended to support students in creation exercises in BPAC 403.

This course starts with exploring individual artistic identity, and ways to build an online community and network around personal artistic practice. It further explores the ways that arts funding works in Canada, the forces that shape public cultural policy and the principal arts funding bodies. It examines the role and status of the artist in contemporary Canadian society and beyond, establishing the emerging Canadian artist as a global citizen, forging their practice in an ever more interconnected and interdependent post-Covid world. Diversity and inclusion, social justice and anti-racist activism as well as Indigenous people's movements for decolonization are impacting policy and opportunity for diverse artists, and this course helps students from all backgrounds to gain insight into how to access public, foundation and private funding in order to sustain their own arts practice.

This course will broaden the areas of expertise of Bachelor of Performing Arts students by offering instruction in various aspects of production. Topics may vary from year to year based on the needs of the cohort and may be selected from, but not limited to, the following: Marketing and Social Media, Cue-based software systems, Projection Design, Composition and Sound Design, Technical Skills (Lighting and Scenic Painting) , Visual Design Themes (Costumes, Make-up, Masks), Stage Management and Rehearsal and Performance Procedures.

In a studio setting, site specific locations, or online platforms, students will be led through performance creation methods using a number of discipline-specific practices (installation art, digital moving image, scenographic devising, sound as performance) and transdisciplinary approaches (learning to think across disciplines as well as in a non-discipline specific manner). Students will work in groups using a variety of materials and media (concrete materials, digital media, and analog and digital sound and light technologies). An emphasis will be put on improvisatory creation methods in which performances ‘emerge’ out of process rather than through excessive pre-planning. Note: BPAC 400 is intended to provide a theoretical and historical foundation for this course. Technical skills learned in BPAC 402 are intended to be directly applied to this course.

Students will study the histories, theories, and practices of various contemporary performative arts. BPAC 404 will build on the module-specific areas introduced in BPAC 400 through extending into Site-Based Performance, Body-Based Performance, and the concept of Theatricality by considering topics such as performance art, postmodern and contemporary dance, performance of gender, Indigenous place-based performance, site-specific and site responsive art and performance, post-dramatic theatre, and theatres of social engagement. Material covered is intended to have application to creation exercises in BPAC 407.

This course will broaden the areas of expertise for Bachelor of Performing Arts students by offering instruction in several advanced production planning skills specialties more focused on producing. The skills will vary from year to year depending on the needs of the cohort and may be selected from the following topics: Budgeting, Production Management, Production Scheduling, Symposium workshops with local Producers and Company Managers.

Students will acquire the knowledge and tools necessary to navigate an entrepreneurial career in the cultural sector. Topics covered include marketing of self, marketing of ideas, managing revenue streams, effective networking, and liaising with cultural institutions and funding bodies.

Students will be led through performance creation methods using a number of discipline-specific practices (Space/Place dynamics, Body-Based creating and Theatricalities) and transdisciplinary approaches (learning to think across disciplines as well as in a non-discipline specific manner). Students will work in groups using a variety of materials and media (concrete materials, digital media, analog and digital sound and light technologies, the human body, architectonic environments, found materials and “found” space). BPAC 407 culminates in a 4-week intensive final project phase in which students will carry a concept from pre-production through rehearsal and performance to post production, including marketing and administrative tasks.