This text is part of the special section Higher education
“We had to completely reinvent our teaching,” explains Annie Gérin, Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Concordia. We are a faculty where we work a lot on materials with our hands and face to face. With the conditions we know, it was extremely difficult. In some cases, we had to help our students to create a home studio by providing them with special kits. In other cases, we even had to bring the kits to immunocompromised students, since they could not travel to campus to collect them. “
Fashion that appeals to you
Artists at heart, the students of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Concordia had no other choice but to take their troubles patiently, before finally returning to the campus studios in the fall. Mme Gérin affirms that the pandemic will have allowed both the administration and the students to understand one thing: the hybrid mode (half on site and half in virtual) makes a lot of people happy. Indeed, for those who already have a job and who are going back to school, the hybrid mode is ideal. Adopting this teaching method allows students to create a school path of their own. “A bit like the books in which you are the hero,” she jokes.
It is also with a view to attracting this clientele that the administration of the Faculty has set up a new short program in scriptwriting and film production, ideal as a complement to training for people who have already completed a bachelor’s degree. and who wish to reorient themselves towards the world of cinema. If the pandemic has caused great upheavals in the field of education, it has also been a source of questions for a large number of students who already have an undergraduate or graduate degree. Annie Gérin’s team believes that these people should not have to take a three-year baccalaureate to reorient themselves.
“Concordia sets itself apart in the arts world because our teachers prepare students for the business world that is linked to today’s artistic environment,” notes the Dean. In several art schools, we will train exceptional painters, but we will never teach them the economic functioning of a gallery. This is what we want to show our students. They quickly set foot on the ground, meet experts, and get out of here knowing what the world they are actually getting into. They are ready for anything. “
Catch up
While many students are complaining today of not having had access to training that meets their expectations during the pandemic, Concordia University is making returning to campus and catching up training a priority.
“We want to promote work in situ, indicates Mme Gérin. We give, for example, concentrated workshops in certain areas to ensure that all of our students are up to date in the use of certain tools. We want everyone to rediscover our facilities and there to be a general upgrade for all students who have run out of workshop time. “
With its new programs and tools such as the Art volte platform, a digital platform that offers initiatives and tools to young art graduates in order to help them initiate new projects, the University is committed to ensuring post-study follow-up. to its students at the Faculty of Fine Arts and to support them in the world of work.