The Grind: Bootcamp

LAUNCH JANUARY 2016   |   OCAD U   |   IMPACT EXCHANGE
 

A follow-up to The Grind’s weekly round-table Sociables, the Bootcamp program looks at taking student driven ideas, projects and dreams to the next level. Through an intensive 12 week regimen of focused dialogue, as well as connecting ideas to the communities and people who can help take them off the ground, The Grind will help convert student innovation from dream to reality!

Hang at Home: A Professional Dinner Series

OCTOBER 2015 - JUNE 2016   |   OCADU   |   IMPACT EXCHANGE

Hang at Home is a Learning Lab in the guise of a dinner series, developed in partnership between GalGalz and OCAD U’s Center for Emerging Artists and Designers. Hang at Home brings OCAD U students together with creative community leaders over meals served in private living spaces that double as either exhibition venues or studios. The Lab is meant demystify the ways in which the personal and professional overlap in the creative world. The guest list, intimate setting and models for inspired, integrated creative living combine to give participating students an enlightening experience. As a commuter-campus, where space is at a deficit, Hang at Home is critically novel. 

Photo credits: Christopher Bennell

Union Station Market – Student Run Pop-Up Shop

NOVEMBER - DECEMBER 2015   |   OCAD U   |   IMPACT EXCHANGE

The Center for Emerging Artists and Designers, working with the Photo, Printmaking and Publications programs, will be creating a retail shop and exhibition at the upcoming Union Station Holiday Marketplace. The temporary market on the first floor of the station runs from late November to mid-December and will features more than 65 Toronto entrepreneurs. This is an outstanding venue for student talent from the Faculty of Art to showcase their work and participate in entrepreneurial opportunities, in a format that allows for many forms of exchange with the public. 

Work/Place: A Creative Learning Lab

LAUNCH OCTOBER 2015   |   OCAD U   |   IMPACT EXCHANGE

A core initiative of the Impact Exchange, the program methodology consists of providing a cohort of emerging artists & designers with experiential learning modules, activities and events which will draw upon a community of subject matter experts and practitioners who are demonstrably rooted in, or committed towards, social innovation. The training will focus on everything from the practical to the ephemeral when it comes to achieving success. Outcomes will include a cadre of freelance practitioners who are able to sustain their practices while creating positive social impact.

The Grind: Sociables

LAUNCH SEPTEMBER 2015   |   OCAD U   |   IMPACT EXCHANGE

Entrepreneurial curiosity blended with social awareness is at the core of much of OCAD U’s student body. Student group The Grind takes full advantage of this spirit in their Sociables program. This initiative offers students weekly meetups among those interested in finding ways to connect their ideas with others, providing round-table conversations on topics such as “how to shake a hand” and “learning to fail”.  Great ideas don’t get made alone!

Learning In The Field – Experiential Learning Placements

LAUNCH SEPTEMBER 2015   |   GREATER TORONTO AREA   |   IMPACT EXCHANGE

In the last several years, OCAD University has developed a committed approach to providing students with work- and community-integrated learning opportunities. As a course, Learning In The Field focuses on community and service learning placements specifically organized for students in the Faculty of Art, examined through the lens of art and social change. Supported by the Centre for Emerging Artists & Designers, and led by faculty, these specialized placement opportunities will offer students a chance to question their role in the arts, the nature of labour and what it means to be an engaged citizen.

Nuit Blanche Art Guides Program

SEPTEMBER 2015   |   OCAD U   |   IMPACT EXCHANGE

A means of connecting the public with the arts is at the heart of enhancing the broader cultural discourse. Volunteering in the sector - to help increase access to, and awareness of, the arts - is one way to achieve this. Our partnership with Scotiabank Nuit Blanche aims to connect OCAD U students with their Art Guide program in order to encourage our students to get involved and enhance cultural impact with a diverse public. The Art Guide program changes how art is experienced over the course of a major event, and can create a lasting influence among audience-goers.

Queen West Art Crawl Career Launcher

 SEPTEMBER 2015   |   TORONTO   |   IMPACT EXCHANGE

This opportunity offered eight new graduates from OCAD U the chance to exhibit and sell their work among 200 other creative professionals over the course of the annual Queen West Art Crawl in downtown Toronto. High-profile space was allocated to the exhibiting artists, one of whom was further selected as the recipient of the Fred L. Curry award and a $500 gift card from sponsor Curry’s Artists’ Materials.