September 26, 2022

York U hosts Ontario’s only in-person National Portfolio Day event following two-year hiatus

Emerging artists and designers have an exceptional opportunity to meet experts from institutions around the world and receive feedback 

On October 1, representatives from some of the world’s leading post-secondary arts and design institutions converged on York University’s Goldfarb Centre for Fine Arts to participate in National Portfolio Day 2022.  Hosted by the University’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design (AMPD), National Portfolio Day offered emerging arts and design students the opportunity to receive valuable feedback on their work and explore some of the best educational creations and exhibition facilities in Canada. 

“In AMPD, artists and designers continually refine and expand their creative practices by testing their ideas, techniques and thinking, and by receiving rigorous and supportive feedback on their work,” says AMPD Dean Sarah Bay-Cheng. “National Portfolio Day offers students a chance to get the valuable feedback needed to grow and explore some of the best educational creation and exhibition facilities in Canada that can keep up with the speed and size of their creative curiosity.”    

AMPD’S National Portfolio Day, the only one in Ontario this year, marks the event’s return to an in-person format following the COVID-19 pandemic. Hundreds of prospective students received expert insight on their arts and design portfolios, learned practical advice from counsellors, admissions staff and faculty, and connected with others who share a strong passion and commitment to art and design.

“The National Portfolio Day Association works with post-secondary institutions that maintain the highest standard of arts and design education available in the world,” says Bay-Cheng. “It is an honour for AMPD to be recognized on a global stage as an innovator in our sector with the expertise, space, and accessibility to host an event of this scale and calibre.”

Aside from Canada’s top arts and design schools, several institutions from Europe and the United States, such as the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of the Arts London (UK) attended the international event – spearheaded by the National Portfolio Day Association.