Emily Carr University of Art and Design

History

Formerly established by the British Columbia Art League as the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts in 1925, the school was renamed the Vancouver School of Art in 1933. In 1978, the school was designated a provincial institute and incorporated as the Emily Carr College of Art and Design before moving to Granville Island in 1980. In 1995, a second building was opened on the Granville Island campus, at which time the college's name changed to the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design (ECIAD). Around the same year, the institute was granted authority to offer its own undergraduate and honorary doctoral degrees. On April 28, 2008, the provincial government announced that it would amend the University Act at the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia and recognize ECIAD as a full university, which was formally named the Emily Carr University of Art + Design.

The first graduate program at the university was introduced in 2003 (MFA) and would later expand to include the Master of Applied Arts (MAA) in 2006, the Master of Digital Media (MDM) in 2007, and the Master of Design in 2013 (MDes). The MDM program, in particular, was launched through the Centre for Digital Media, a campus consortium of four post-secondary institutions in British Columbia.

In 2017, ECU moved from its longtime home on Granville Island to a permanent, purpose-built campus on Great Northern Way, which can accommodate more than twice as many students than the previous campus. The university's new location sits on a former industrial site within the False Creek Flats neighbourhood in East Vancouver.

Campus

The university's campus is located within a four-storey 26,915 square metre (289,730 sq. ft.) structure in the False Creek Flats neighbourhood of Vancouver. Designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects and constructed by EllisDon in 2017, the school's premises contains an outdoor plaza, student commons, galleries, faculty and administration offices, exhibition spaces, studios, classrooms, a canteen, patio, and three lecture theatres. In addition, several Indigenous design elements were incorporated into the interiors of the building. The exterior facade has white metal panels and glass reminiscent of a blank canvas, as well as back-painted glass spandrel panels to evoke a sequence of colours and transitions. The building's colour palette was selected by faculty members in honour of the university's namesake, Emily Carr.

The building forms a part of the larger Great Northern Way Campus, a 18.5 acre multi-use property that is shared with four other post-secondary institutions through the Great Northern Way Trust. Emily Carr University, along with British Columbia Institute of Technology, Simon Fraser University, and the University of British Columbia, are all equal shareholders in the trust and utilize their own facilities on the campus.

ECU is also home to the Libby Leshgold Gallery, a public art gallery dedicated to contemporary art by emerging and established artists, both domestic and international. The gallery also operates READ Books, an independent bookstore that specializes in artists' books, monographs, exhibition catalogues, textbooks, non-fiction, fiction, and design publications.

Academics

Emily Carr University specializes in art and design education, which merges studio practice, research, and critical theory in an interdisciplinary and collaborative environment. The school offers academic programs and continuing education courses in sustainable design, writing, photography, new media art, visual arts, game development, interactive media, animation, industrial design, product design, ceramics, sculpture, communication design, and illustration.

Degree programs include:

• Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Cultural + Critical Practices, Illustration, Photography, or Visual Arts. Visual arts majors can choose to specialize in painting, ceramics, drawing, print media, or sculpture and extended practices.
• Bachelor of Design (BDes) in Communication Design, Interaction Design, or Industrial Design.
• Bachelor of Media Arts (BMA) in Animation (2D + Experimental Animation or 3D Computer Animation), Film + Screen Arts, or New Media + Sound Arts.
• Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Visual Arts.
• Master of Design (MDes) with Interdisciplinary and User Experience (UX) options.

Research

ECU primarily conducts research in studio-based art, media, and design through the participation of faculty members, students, research chairs, and industry partners. The school currently hosts five applied research centres and labs: the Basically Good Media Lab (BGML), DESIS Lab, Health Design Lab, Material Matters, and the Shumka Centre for Creative Entrepreneurship. In November 2009, ECU teamed up with Lucasfilm spinoff, Kerner Optical, to announce the establishment of a stereoscopic 3-D research studio. Garnet Hertz and Amber Frid-Jimenez joined the university in 2014 as the first ever Canada Research Chairs of an art and design institution in the country. In 2015, historian and curator Richard Hill joined the university as the third Canada Research Chair, specializing in Indigenous Studies.

Library

The Ron Burnett Library + Learning Commons is the university's library that serves students, faculty, and the public, and is named after Ron Burnett, one of the former presidents of ECU. The library spans three floors and also houses commons spaces, the writing centre, the teaching and learning centre, exhibition/event space, study rooms, special collections, and the university archives.

Arms

Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design's arms, supporters, flag, and badge were registered with the Canadian Heraldic Authority on April 20, 2007.{{Infobox COA wide

Notable people

Alumni

• Kate Ali
• Unity Bainbridge
• Arnold Belkin
• Alexandra Bischoff
• Molly Lamb Bobak
• Emily Kai Bock
• Phillip Borsos
• Annie Briard
• Karin Bubaš
• Arabella Campbell
• Neko Case
• Douglas Coupland
• Stan Douglas
• Kevin Eastwood
• Geoffrey Farmer
• Ann Marie Fleming
• Tommy Genesis
• Jude Griebel
• Angela Grossmann
• Sophie Hackett
• Colleen Heslin
• E. J. Hughes
• Carole Itter
• Donald Jarvis
• Lynn Johnston
• Brian Jungen
• Ann Kipling
• Terence Koh
• Brian Kokoska
• Julian Lawrence
• Annie Liu
• Attila Richard Lukacs
• Irene Luxbacher
• Jeannie Mah
• Sara Mameni
• Dandilion Wind Opaine
• Frank Palmer
• Aaron Pollard of (2boys.tv)
• Brandy Saturley
• Jack Shadbolt
• Edith L. Sharp
• Jeremy Shaw
• Elise Siegel
• Heather Spears
• Jeff Chiba Stearns
• Merike Talve
• Ronald Thom
• Renée Van Halm
• Ola Volo
• Joy Zemel Long

Faculty and emeriti

• Gina Adams
• Julie Andreyev
• Marian Penner Bancroft
• Ron Burnett
• Peg Campbell
• Randy Lee Cutler
• Garnet Hertz
• Maria Hupfield (Wasauksing Ojibwe)
• Landon Mackenzie
• Sandra Semchuk
• Gregory Scofield (Métis)
• Durwin Talon
• Henry Tsang
• Frederick Varley
• Ian Wallace
• Rita Wong
• Leonard Woods

References

References

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2. "2024_25_Student_Full_Time_Equivalent_Enrolments_at BC_Public_Post_Secondary_Institutions". BC Government.
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4. (2025-02-25). "Facts + Figures".
5. "QS World University Rankings for Art & Design 2025".
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7. "B.C. Art League Fonds".
8. Education, Office of the Premier, Ministry of Advanced. (28 April 2008). "B.C. TO ESTABLISH EMILY CARR UNIVERSITY OF ART & DESIGN".
9. "An Overview of B.C.'s Public Post-secondary Institutions".
10. "BC ARTISTS: Vancouver School of Decorative & Applied Arts".
11. "New Emily Carr Campus Opens in East Vancouver".
12. (19 December 2017). "Emily Carr University moving to new campus on Great Northern Way". Buzz Connected Media.
13. (2019). "Emily Carr University of Art + Design". Diamond Schmitt.
14. (2022). "Governance". Centre for Digital Media.
15. Canada, 520 1st Ave E. Vancouver BC V5T 0H2. (2020-09-01). "Centres + Labs {{!}} Emily Carr University of Art + Design".
16. "Vancouver Sun - Kerner, Emily Carr University team up to produce 3-D movies".
17. (29 May 2019). "First Canada Research Chairs Appointed at Emily Carr".
18. "Emily Carr - Richard Hill, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Studies".
19. (2021-11-01). "Richard Hill Appointed as Curator of Canadian Art at Vancouver Art Gallery".
20. General, The Office of the Secretary to the Governor. "The Public Register of Arms, Flags and Badges of Canada".
21. "Emily Carr University of Art + Design". Canadian Heraldic Authority.
22. "Emily Carr University of Art + Design". Canadian Heraldic Authority.
23. "Emily Carr University of Art + Design". Canadian Heraldic Authority.
24. "Emily Carr University of Art + Design". Canadian Heraldic Authority.
25. Stopa, Thalia. (July 27, 2015). "Getting to the Roots of Tommy Genesis".
26. (6 September 2022). "The Curious Case of Gina Adams: A "Pretendian" investigation".