CALL FOR PROJECT PARTICIPANTS FROM OUR POINT OF VIEW: ENCOUNTERS WITH ARTISTS

*Banner image: Max Dean, As Yet Untitled, 1992-95

OCAD U’s Faculty of Art is pleased to announce an opportunity for up to 16 students to participate in From Our Point of View: Encounters with Artists, a year-long visiting artist project running until Spring 2025. The student participants in From Our Point of View: Encounters with Artists, will work together to host 4 established senior Canadian artists across the year. 

The participants, working as a team under the mentorship of Governor General’s Award-winning artist Max Dean, will be assigned the task of researching the guest artists and their work: resulting in public events where the student participants present the guest artist's work and interview them in front of an audience. It is a rethinking of the conventional artist talk in a structure that centres student inquiry. It is a celebration of these senior artists, and a way to build connections across generations.

Participants will have the opportunity to develop their research & presentation skills, explore collaborative approaches and have the chance to work closely with the visiting artists.

This extracurricular project will involve group meetings, individual research, and 4 in-person events scheduled at intervals between September 2024 and April 2025. The in-person meetings and events will be scheduled on Wednesdays between 4 pm and 8 pm. (specific guests are TBC), so having availability during this time will be necessary to participate. 

This opportunity is open to senior level OCAD U undergrad students (3^rd and 4^th year level) and current graduate students. We are seeking up to 16 participants. Upon completion of the project, participants will each receive a $450.00 participation honorarium. 

Qualifications

• Be a current 3^rd or 4th year Undergraduate Student or Graduate OCAD U student (any discipline, or program of study)
• Be inquisitive, curious, hard-working
• Be both self-directed and willing to work as a group member 
• Be interested in generating insightful and probing lines of inquiry, articulating ideas 
• Be interested in expanding their research and collaboration skills
• Be committed to pursuing a career in the arts
• Expect to make themselves available for around 25 hours of in-person work during the project’s run (September to March), as well as additional asynchronous independent work (both individual and small group)
• Be available for weekly scheduled meetings and the public presentations on Wednesdays between 4pm-8pm (with some accommodation of participants’ class schedules), generally the meetings will be 1-2 hours, and the public events will require 2 hours 
• Confidence speaking in public is an asset but not necessary. 

Max Dean, on the project:

“The participating students will host the invited artists at OCADU. An interview format will allow the participants to ask questions which they feel are relevant and of the moment. 

We’re looking for inquisitive individuals who can articulate or write about ideas and thoughts for a small group of fellow participants and are prepared to act in a variety of capacities on the project. We’re looking for students who have some research skills or a willingness to learn how do to research. The participants will be able to attend weekly meetings, to discuss approaches to researching the guest, and complete research on assigned topics. The tasks of researching, crafting questions and public presentation will be shared across the group.

The interview will be a public event. It will begin with a short introduction that is researched, written and presented by the participants. This is then followed by a 90 minute interview with questions developed by the participants. The focus being to enable the students to ask questions they feel are important and relevant to their generation. The interview will be followed by a Q&A from the audience.”

Applications are due Thursday, September 19, noon EST

Please complete the application form at the following link:  https://forms.office.com/r/Zu3E2TAzf8

*This program is supported through the generous support of Lady Elizabeth (Pixie) Mudge Massey Shaw.

QUESTIONS?

Email: Derek Sullivan, Associate Professor, Tenured,
Faculty of Art
dsullivan@ocadu.ca