OCAD University
EN-12: Continuing Education

1. CSFD-N103 - Upcycle Fashion Studio

Course Description:
North Americans discard 12 billion kilograms of textiles every year, with 85% ending up in landfill sites. This studio course explores creative ways to restyle, reuse, and upcycle used clothing. Students explore additive and subtractive techniques to transform preowned garments into textured, layered, and sophisticated fashion. Topics include fabric sewing, surface embellishment, and textile redesign. Studio work will be supported by technical demonstrations, presentations, and critique.

2. CSLH-N124 - Art, Architecture, and Public Space

Course Description:
This course examines the interplay of art, architecture and urbanism in shaping public spaces. It introduces students to various forms of installation art, architectural design and public space that aim to enhance the livability and diversity of cities locally and internationally. Students will learn from presentations, guest speakers, discussions and site visits where the class will observe how public spaces are used and transformed by different actors and communities. The course is suitable for students of any discipline who are interested in learning more about the role of art and architecture in urban life. For the final project, students will conduct a fieldwork-based analysis of public space and present their findings in a medium of their choice.

Sustainability-inclusive courses offered by Continuing Studies:

3. CSDV-N101 - Whiteness Without White Supremacy: A Generative Creative Workshop

Course Description
In this workshop, participants will learn how to generate alternative identities of whiteness in order to begin dismantling structures of white supremacy inside their organizations and themselves. Participants will be able to identify the attitudes and values of white supremacy as a culture, evaluate a set of alternative values to those of white supremacy, generate through drawing, painting, or sculpture a possibility model of whiteness without white supremacy, and build community through the sharing of those models and their personal embodiment plan with others. This course includes readings, exercises, and online discussion.

4. CSWL-N105 - Critical Approaches to Intellectual Property Law: Reconciling Indigenous Creativity, Indigenous Knowledge and IP Laws

Course description
This course, developed in partnership with the Faculty of Law, University of Windsor, Ridout & Maybee LLP, and eCampus Ontario, will explore Indigenous IP law, focusing on Indigenous knowledge and cultural expression (IK&CE). Students will learn to acknowledge the value of IK&CE and identify benefits of protecting and defending IK&CE to non-Indigenous and Indigenous creators and knowledge keepers within Indigenous communities. This course is about starting a conversation and bringing attention to misjustice stemming from the Western IP system to Indigenous peoples through the way each nation practices its laws. Please note this course does not speak on behalf or claim to be knowledge keepers for any First Nations, Inuit, or Métis peoples.

5. CSLH-N128 - Social Media, Democracy and International Human Rights Mobilization

Course Description
The intersection of the arts, politics, and international activism has inspired creators, informed citizens, and motivated many social movements from democracy’s earliest days. This course investigates these diverse fields and activities. It aims to help students understand and constructively engage with authoritarian regimes’ harassment of human rights campaigners and democracy practitioners. It will also discuss recent online social movements that have captured the world’s imagination, including #ArabSpring; #BlackLivesMatter; #MeToo; #OccupyWallStreet, as well as actors like Anonymous. From this, this course attempts to empower Canadian creators and help citizens fight against rights abuses.

Recent events in the Philippines, Russia, and India show how human rights-related issues unfold as well as provide opportunities for Canadian learners to understand them, empathize with the oppressed, and respond constructively. First, in the Philippines, take the case of Maria Ressa. She is the CEO and editor-in-chief of Rappler, the Philippines’ largest independent online media organization. The Rappler’s growth was facilitated by considerable investments in technology and journalistic resources. It also depended on partnerships and distribution through social media platforms, especially Facebook. However, use of this same global social media platform has been abused. Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte’s regime associates, as well as his supporters’ networks, have harassed Ressa and Rappler journalists. They have even created disinformation campaigns using Facebook. This has culminated in the conviction of Ressa, her key deputy, and her company by regime-sympathetic courts for the crimes of “cyber libel” and tax evasion. Second, in Russia, opposition leader, Alexei Navalny exposed corruption and critiqued the current regime using social media, particularly YouTube. The Russian government has responded in kind, leveraging centralized organized disinformation campaigns and broadcast media to discredit Navalny as well as use courts to try to silence him. Finally, in India, farmers and the government have both taken to social media, as well as organizing in-person activities, in their ongoing conflict.

This is a qualifying course for the Critical Theory in Art and Design Certificate.

This course is developed in partnership with the Toronto Metropolitan University Leadership Lab, with funding from eCampus Ontario.

6. CSDV-N103 - Beyond GLAM Land Acknowledgments: Activating Decolonization and Indigenization in Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums Micro-credential

This micro-credential critically examines the work of the galleries, libraires, archives, and museums (GLAM) with a view to make space for new ways of being through practical and theoretical discussions of how to apply decolonizing and Indigenizing actions to these spaces.

In the traditional museum/archive, curators, staff members, and researchers are trained to respectfully care for, research, learn from, interpret and display artwork, objects, and specimens. These items are equally recognized and referred to as Ancestors, Beings, and Belongings. We will explore how to rethink our work from the foundational level of what we do – including what we do in our day to day lives, through close examinations of the words of contemporary Indigenous scholars and curators. Topics include positioning yourself, critiquing written and unwritten narratives, critiquing authenticity and authority, and decolonizing exhibition content. We will think together about how to put these words into practice to de-centre colonial ways of thinking, and in doing so, learn how our work in GLAM can interrupt and unsettle dominant narratives in our society.

As both facilitators are based in what is now known as Ontario, our discussions will primarily focus on Turtle Island, but the topics covered are of relevance internationally.

7. CSDV-N102 - Hiring for Decolonization, Diversity, and Inclusion in the Creative Industries Micro-credential

Course Description
Participants will learn how to create decolonizing, diverse, and inclusive processes to hire Indigenous, Black, and People of Colour job candidates in the creative industries. At the end of this course, participants will be able to use human rights laws to justify their hiring programs, build relationships with communities to tap into existing pipelines, write a position description that speaks to diverse candidates, create qualification standards that account for systemic exclusion, and set up structures for achieving critical mass. This course will have readings, exercises and applications organized into four modules.

Modules/Engagement:

Module 1: Human Rights Laws and Hiring for Decolonization, Diversity, and Inclusion
Module 2: Dismantling Systemic Exclusion in Traditional Hiring
Module 3: Bias and the “Bro-Code”: Cultural Calls and No ‘Fits’
Module 4: Embedding the Principles of Hiring for Decolonization, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Your Organization

This course includes weekly optional synchronous online meetings for discussions.

8. CSDV-N122 - Retaining Diverse Talent in the Creative Industries Micro-credential

Course Description

Building on the knowledge and skills gained in the micro-credential, Hiring for Decolonization, Diversity, and inclusion in the Creative Industries Micro-credential, this micro-credential explores strategies to retain diverse talent in the creative industries. At the end of this micro-credential, participants will better understand the importance of building and nurturing inclusive, transparent structures and processes that go beyond individual contributions to inclusion. Participants will learn how to build trust with, and safety for diverse talent to increase retention and sustain organizational diversity. This course includes lectures, guest speakers, exercises, discussions, readings, and assignments.

MODULES/ENGAGEMENT:

Module 1: Are You Ready for Diverse Talent?: Auditing Your Organizational Culture for Equity
Module 2: Equitable On-boarding and the Honeymoon Stage
Module 3: Transparency as a Strategy: How to Retain Diverse Talent with Transparency
Module 4: Building Community: The Importance of Trust and Psychological Safety
Module 5: Structures, Processes, and Standards: Using the Key Pillars of Culture for Sustenance

This course includes weekly optional synchronous online meetings for discussions.

Critical Theory and Social Impact in Art and Design Certificate

This certificate provides artists, designers, writers, curators, and art/design appreciators insight into the rich dialogue of contemporary art, design, and new media. Courses explore themes of community engagement, activism, and social justice. They focus on studio practice in combination with critical discourse. The courses eligible for this certificate will inspire, challenge, and inform.