AMPD News

The York University Research Awards Celebration recognizes the outstanding achievements of York's esteemed faculty members - from all faculties and schools - and in areas including artificial intelligence, Black scholarship, documentary filmmaking, and neuroscience, among others. This year, York recognized 10 AMPD faculty members, Karen Burke, Taien Ng-Chan, Christina Petrowska Quilico, Shital Desai, Ali Kazimi, Marissa Largo, Brenda Longfellow, Sundar Viswanathan, Sharon H. Hayashi, Anna V. Hudson.

AMPD Professor Emeritus Tim Whiten is an image maker and creator of cultural objects from Toronto and one of the six award winners to receive the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts (GGArts) this year.

York University’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD) is internationally recognized as an incubator for performing arts innovation. The first university in Canada to offer jazz and gospel as part of its Music degree program, York continues to advance and modernize its programming for a diverse student performers. More recently, the School’s Theatre and Dance programs collaborated with colleagues in Digital Media and Film, as well as professional partners, to incorporate digital technologies into its programs. The QS rankings demonstrates AMPD is a global example of how performance programs – such as dance, music and theatre – can connect to all forms of arts, media and design to create positive change.

Cinespace Studios and York University announced the creation of a Production Accounting Micro-Credential program in response to a growing demand for film and television skilled labour and a specific need for production accountants in Ontario as presented in the Toronto Screen Industry Workforce Study. 

A York delegation will headed to New York City in early March to bring their research expertise to the UN 2023 Water Conference. The delegates lead a panel discussion on water security and climate change; the panel is one of a select group of side events included in the program.

AMPD alum Abraham Oghobase (MFA 2022) joins The Museum of Modern Art's (MoMA) distinguished Forum on Contemporary Photography, Decentering the Document, in New York City on April 19, 2023. Oghobase will speak and exhibit works alongside six other artists united by their critical use of photographic forms and their ties to the artistic scene in the port city of Lagos (Èkó), Nigeria.

York Dances 2023: Convergence features new choreographic works of 27 third-year BFA majors performed by students engaged in all levels of York’s programs in dance. In addition to steering their own creative processes, students led every facet of the production of Convergence, including costumes, lighting design, poster design and front of house. Supported by faculty and students – including guest artist and student Maxine Heppner, and current work-studies technicians – the show celebrates togetherness, individuality and the positive power of community.

Twenty graduating BFA students from the Department of Dance in York’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD) will perform in Colossus at the Meridian Arts Centre, alongside dancers from Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), from March 22 to 26.