Overview

As federated partners, Thorneloe University and Laurentian University jointly offer the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree program, which allows students the option of Specializing in one of the following arts disciplines:

• Theatre Arts
• Motion Picture Arts 
• Music

 

In addition, students have the option to obtain a 24-credit Minor in any of these disciplines.

Regarding each arts discipline, students must obtain 120 credits in the following credit structure to obtain the BFA degree:

• 60 credits in Specialization
• 24 credits in Fine Arts: Theatre Arts, Music, Motion Picture Arts or a combination of Music, and/or Theatre and/or Motion Picture Arts  
• 36 credits of General Electives: A minimum of 6 credits per Faculty from two of the following Faculties: Humanities, Social Sciences, and/or Sciences, and 24 credits from any Faculty excluding courses in Fine Arts (i.e., Motion Picture Arts, Theatre Arts and Music). Students are encouraged to apply these 24 credits towards a Minor.

 

Regardless of which arts discipline, the BFA program offers students not only unique opportunities for internships, but also to participate in hands-on productions, both scholastic and professional, throughout their period of study.

 

About Our Program

With Thorneloe University and its other federated partners, Laurentian University is the largest university north of Toronto, and its BFA program is the only university-based centre for the study of art & culture in Northern Ontario.

The BFA program at Thorneloe/Laurentian considers each of its disciplines primarily as a means of artistic expression, and is therefore more practice-based than theory-based. Essentially, students are prepared for careers as professional artists. In addition, students are not only provided with a solid foundation in the history and traditions of their chosen disciplines, but with the tools to navigate the financial and commercial aspects of their careers.

The disciplines within the BFA program allow for the examination and creative expression of our intellectual, emotional, and physical worlds. In doing so, students in the BFA program develop skills in communication, aesthetics, interpretation, critical thinking, management, organization and leadership.

 

About Our Philosophy

The philosophy behind the BFA program jointly offered by federated partners Thorneloe University and Laurentian University is that art makes us aware of our problems, and an arts education helps to solve them. Years of research proves that an arts education is intimately linked to precisely what we say we want for our children, and demand from our schools: social and emotional development, civic engagement, academic achievement, and equitable opportunity.

Studies from around the world unanimously indicate that student involvement in the arts is associated with gains in verbal skills, reading, math, cognitive ability, and critical thinking. Furthermore, an arts education can improve motivation, concentration, confidence, and teamwork. For example, a 2005 report by the Rand Corporation, a U.S. based not-for-profit, claims that art, in all of its varied dimensions (e.g., development, analysis, production, criticism, therapy, history, etc.), "can connect people more deeply to the world and open them to new ways of seeing."

It has been proposed that the philosophy behind an education is threefold: to prepare students for the job market, to be citizens, and to be human beings who can enjoy the deepest forms of beauty. If you agree that the latter is as important as each of the former two, then you agree that an arts education is essential.

 

About Our Region

As a region, Northern Ontario is home to three quarters of a million people, and Greater Sudbury, the largest city north of Toronto with a population of over 160,000, is its facto capital.

Theatre, Motion Picture Arts Production, and Music, the three arts disciplines of study offered as a Specialization by the BFA program, are well established in the city.

With regard to Theatre, Greater Sudbury is home to two prominent professional stage companies: the English-language Sudbury Theatre Centre (STC), and the French-language Théâtre du Nouvel-Ontario (TNO).  While the STC has its own theatre venue downtown, the TNO stages its productions at La salle André Paiement, a venue located on the campus of Collège Boréal. Numerous other theatre companies thrive in Greater Sudbury, inclduing The Encore Theatre Company, which performs at the Ernie Checkeris Theatre at Thorneloe University, situated on the Laurentian University campus.

With regard to Music, Greater Sudbury’s most successful artists have predominantly been in the country, folk and country-rock genres. These include Robert Paquette, Kate Maki, Nathan Lawr, Gil Grand, Kevin Closs, CANO, Jake Mathews, Loma Lyns, Alex J. Robinson, Chuck Labelle, and Ox. The rap metal band Project Wyze is also based in Sudbury.

When Laurentian University's Fraser Auditorium proves inadequate for higher-profile musicians with larger audiences, the venue of choice becomes the Sudbury Community Arena, which has hosted a variety of national artists, like Blue Rodeo, and international artists, like Elton John. For summer music bookings, Bell Park's outdoor Grace Hartman Amphitheatre is a popular destination. Smaller touring indie rock bands, as well as local musicians, are featured at The Towne House, while local bands play a number of small music venues across the city. Greater Sudbury is also home to many annual music festivals, including Sudbury Summerfest, the Northern Lights Festival Boréal, La Nuit sur l'étang, and the Jazz Sudbury Festival. With regard to classical music, the local Sudbury Symphony Orchestra performs six annual concerts.

With regard to Motion Picture Arts, Northern Ontario, and specifically Greater Sudbury, has established itself as a regional hub for film and TV production. Productions in the city have included the Canadian cult classic Roadkill (1989), the CBC-TV feature Shania: A Life in Eight Albums (2005), the American thriller The Truth (2012), and the Canadian comedy Men with Brooms (2002). Television series filmed in the city include TV Ontario’s Hard Rock Medical (2013), the Canadian sci-fi Dark Rising: Warrior of Worlds (2013), and TFO’s French-language Météo+ (2008-2011), and Les Bleus de Ramville (2012). March Entertainment's studio in Greater Sudbury has produced a number of animated TV series, including Chilly Beach (2003-2008), Maple Shorts (2005-present), The Very Good Adventures of Yam Roll in Happy Kingdom (2006-present), and Dex Hamilton: Alien Entomologist (2008-present). Sudbury is also home to the Science North Production Team, an award-winning producer of documentary films and multimedia presentations for museums all around the world. Cinefest Sudbury International Film Festival, Canada's 4th largest film festival after the Toronto International Film Festival, Montreal World Film Festival, and Vancouver International Film Festival, is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2014.

With regard to the arts outside of the disciplines within the BFA program, Greater Sudbury has two prominent art galleries: the Art Gallery of Sudbury, and La Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario. Both are dedicated primarily to Canadian art, especially artists from Northern Ontario. In addition, many notable works of literature themed or set primarily or partially in Greater Sudbury, include Robert J. Sawyer's Neanderthal Parallax trilogy (2002-2003), Alistair MacLeod's novel No Great Mischief (1999), Paul Quarrington's Logan in Overtime (1990), and Jean-Marc Dalpé's play 1932, La ville du nickel (1984), and his short story collection Contes sudburois (2001). American comedy writer Jack Douglas fictionalizes Greater Sudbury as “Chinookville” in several books. Noted writers who have lived in Sudbury include playwrights Jean-Marc Dalpé, Sandra Shamas and Brigitte Haentjens, poets Robert Dickson and Margaret Christakos, fiction writers Kelley Armstrong, Sean Costello, Sarah Selecky and Jeffrey Round, journalist Mick Lowe and academics Richard E. Bennett, Michel Bock, Rand Dyck, Graeme S. Mount and Gary Kinsman.

Admission Requirements

Based on Grade 12 4U/M courses:

• 1 English

• 5 other courses

• Audition

• Minimum average of 70%

• BFA Admissions Application Form

Employment Prospects

Advertising, arts, arts management, communications, education, graduate studies, music, theatre…

Credit Transfer

Credit transfer opportunities are available from other recognized postsecondary institutions and are typically evaluated on an individual basis. Some fast-tracking opportunities also exist. A formal collaborative agreement with Cambrian College is also in place for this program.