TORONTO, December 19, 2011 − The Faculty of Fine Arts at York University is expanding its international relations and deepening existing relationships with an 18-day trip to India, January 1 to 18, 2012. A team of senior academic and administrative staff will visit Chennai, Bangalore, New Delhi and Mumbai, with stops at notable universities, fine arts training centres and cultural institutions.
“We already have a well-established program of international participation, but we’re always looking to expand our outreach and involvement,” said Barbara Sellers-Young, dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts, who is leading the delegation.
Studio and theory courses with a South Asian focus are a standard part of the curriculum in York’s Departments of Dance, Film, Music and Visual Arts. Special projects in recent years include Theatre @ York’s premiere of a modern adaptation of Kalidasa’s Shakuntala written and directed by then graduate student Charles Roy, who took the play on to its first Canadian professional production and to the Cultural Olympics at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. The Faculty of Fine Arts has several times hosted DanceIntense Canada in partnership with Sampradaya Dance Creations, headed by alumna Lata Pada, a recipient of the Order of Canada and India’s Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award.
A number of distinguished artist-scholars of Indian heritage hold professorships in York’s Faculty of Fine Arts. They include internationally-acclaimed master percussionist Trichy Sankaran, who co-founded York’s groundbreaking South Indian music studies program 40 years ago; jazz musician, composer, recording and touring artist Sundar Viswanathan; award-winning documentary filmmaker Ali Kazimi, and adjunct professor, choreographer and dancer Menaka Thakkar, who is credited with bringing classical Indian dance into the cultural mainstream in Canada.
Underpinning these artistic and academic connections are both longstanding and recent linkages between York University and educational institutions in India.
York has agreements in place with the University of Madras and Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, and the team from the Faculty of Fine Arts will be visiting both institutions to explore opportunities to build on these relationships. York's Schulich School of Business maintains a Satellite Centre partnered with the Indian Institute of Management Ahmadabad, IIM Bangalore and the Indian School of Business. It also runs the Schulich MBA in India program in partnership with the Mumbai-based SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, and is opening its own campus in Hyderabad in 2013. The renowned A.J.K. Mass Communications Research Centre at New Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia University was originally set up in collaboration with York, and Faculty of Fine Arts film professors were among the first generation of teachers there.
This solid foundation of existing connections makes India a natural choice for a concerted exploratory visit by York’s Faculty of Fine Arts.
“Our main objective is to promote research collaboration and expand student learning opportunities, with a focus on exchange opportunities for international scholars and students to mutually enhance the academic and research culture in each organization,” said Sellers-Young.
She is joined on the trip by Sheila Embleton, Distinguished Research Professor of Linguistics, a lead architect of York University’s India Strategy who has served as York’s representative at the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute for the past decade; Design Professor Michael Longford, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Research in the Faculty of Fine Arts; Film Professor Ali Kazimi; and Ina Agastra, International Relations and Development Officer in the Faculty of Fine Arts.
Please see full itinerary and delegate bios below.
York University’s Faculty of Fine Artsis one of North America’s premier training and research institutions for the visual and performing arts. One of the largest and most comprehensive programs of its kind in Canada, it brings together more than 3,400 undergraduate and graduate students and 250 full-time and part-time faculty working at the leading edge of fine arts practice and scholarship. The Faculty of Fine Arts offers in-depth academic studies and hands-on professional training in all the fine arts: dance, design, digital media, film, music, theatre and visual arts. Degree programs include the BA, BFA, BDes, MA, MFA, MDes and PhD, plus graduate diplomas and joint MA/MBA programs with York’s Graduate Program in Arts and Media Administration. All of these programs are informed by the Faculty’s strong commitment to the inclusion of global cultures, collaborative and interdisciplinary work, and intercultural research.
Itinerary – January 1-18, 2012
CHENNAI: January 1-5
Sunday, January 1
The Music Academy, Madras - Karnatic music training academy, where the prestigious “Sangita Kalanidhi” title and award will be bestowed upon York University Music Professor Trichy Sankaran at the annual graduation ceremony
Monday, January 2
Brhaddhvani - research and training centre for musics of the world
Kalakshetra – centre for training and performance in dance, music, visual arts, crafts, textile design, aesthetics, history and philosophy
Tuesday, January 3
University of Madras - Centre for International Relations
Wednesday, January 4
DakshinaChitra - centre for local arts, crafts and architecture
Nrithyodaya - school of music and dance
BANGALORE: January 6-7
Friday, January 6
National Institute of Design - R&D Campus
National Institute of Creative Communication India
NEW DELHI: January 8-14
Monday, January 9
Jawaharlal Nehru University - School of Arts and Aesthetics
Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute - bi-national organization that promotes understanding between India and Canada through academic activities and exchanges
Tuesday, January 10
High Commission of Canada to India
Wednesday, January 11
Jamia Millia Islamia
* Faculty of Fine Arts
* A.J.K. Mass Communications Research Centre
Thursday, January 12
Indian Council for Cultural Relations
National School of Drama
Friday, January 13
Sanskriti Foundation - dedicated to preserving traditional Indian arts and culture
MUMBAI: January 15–18
Monday, January 16
Whistling Woods International - acting, filmmaking, animation and business school
Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Ltd. - creating India’s first augmented reality project
Tuesday, January 17
Tata Institute for Social Sciences
Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Art - affiliated with the University of Mumbai
Biographies
Barbara Sellers-Young, professor and dean, Faculty of Fine Arts, York University
Barbara Sellers-Young has a BS in Sociology, MS in Dance and a PhD in Theatre from the University of Oregon. She is currently Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts at York University. Previously she was a professor at University of California, Davis, where she served as Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance and Executive Director of the Robert and Margit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts. She has also taught at universities in England, China, and Australia. Her research projects on the intersections of performance, body and globalization have taken place in Sudan, Egypt, Turkey, Greece, Nepal, China, England, and Australia. Her articles can be found in The Journal of Popular Culture, Theatre Topics, Asian Theatre Journal, Dance Research Journal and elsewhere. She is the author of three books: Teaching Personality with Gracefulness, Breathing, Movement, Exploration and an edited volume titled Bellydance: Orientalism, Transnationalism and Harem Fantasy.
Sellers-Young’s research has been supported by fellowships from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (Canada), American Council of Learned Societies and the Centre for Cultural Research into Risk, Charles Sturt University, (Australia), as well as numerous grants, including a Davis Humanities Fellowship and a Pacific Rim Planning Grant. She served for two years as convener of the International Federation of Theatre Research Working Group: Theory and Practice of Performing and from 2007 to 2010 as president of the Congress on Research in Dance. She is the recipient of the 2011 Dixie Durr Award for Outstanding Service to Dance Research and the 2008 Distinguished Alumni Award from the School of Music and Dance at the University of Oregon.
Sheila Embleton, Distinguished Research Professor of Linguistics, York University
A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Sheila Embleton served as vice-president academic and provost at York University (2000-2009) and prior to that as associate dean of York’s Faculty of Arts. She also served as Chair of the Ontario Council of Academic Vice-Presidents (2004-2008) and of the National Vice-Presidents Academic Council (2006-2007). Her academic background and graduate work are in both mathematics (BSc, MSc , University of Toronto) and linguistics (PhD, University of Toronto). Her areas of scholarly interest include historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, dialectology, mathematical/statistical methods in linguistics, onomastics, semiotics, and women and language, and she has published extensively in all of these areas.
Embleton has been involved in many aspects of academic relations between Canada and India, and frequently lectures, writes for the media, and leads panels on the rapidly evolving higher education scene in India. She has represented York University at the Shastri Indo- Canadian Institute since 2001, and was Shastri’s vice-president and then president from 2008 to 2010, during which time she led a strategic planning process. She led York University’s India Strategy from 2005 to 2009 and was closely involved in the preparation, negotiation and approvals for the establishment of York University’s Schulich School of Business MBA program in India. As Chair of OCAV, she conceived, established and secured government funding for the Ontario-Maharashtra-Goa exchange program. She has travelled and lectured widely in India, visiting dozens of universities, institutes and government ministries. She was involved in advising and planning for the academic portions of the visits to India by Canada’s Prime Minister, Stephen Harper (2009), Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty (2007 and 2009), Québec Premier Jean Charest (2010) and British Columbia Premier Christy Clark (2011). She is a member of the Focus India Group of the Government of Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and was a member of the Canada-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement Joint Study Group Advisory Committee. She currently serves as president of the Canada India Education Council and Chair of CIEC’s Academic Relations Committee.
Michael Longford, associate professor, Department of Design, and associate dean, graduate studies and research, Faculty of Fine Arts, York University
Professor Longford holds undergraduate degrees in photography (Ryerson University) and sculpture (York University) and an MFA from Rutgers University. He is also an alumnus of the Independent Study Program at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. His teaching areas are interface design, digital media and visual culture. His creative work and research activities reside at the intersection of photography, graphic design, digital media and mobile communication technologies. He recently completed a three-year project as the co-principal investigator for the Mobile Digital Commons Network (MDCN), a Canadian research network developing technology and media-rich content for mobile devices. He was a founding member of Hexagram: Institute for Research and Creation in Media Arts and Technologies in Montreal, and served for three years as director for the Advanced Digital Imaging and 3D Rapid Prototyping Group. Currently, he co-directs the Mobile Media Lab located at York and Concordia University and is an editor for the Visual Communication Journal.
Professor Longford is a lead organizer of the Faculty of Fine Arts’ Sensorium Institute for Digital Arts and Technology, an ambitious new initiative to foster a broad spectrum of research-intensive, interdisciplinary and collaborative projects focusing on both digital technologies and human factors, emphasizing immersion, connectivity, mobility and networked media cultures. Slated to launch in 2012, Sensorium will encompass researchers from across York University as well as academic partnerships with a dozen other universities plus a wide range of industry partners.
Ali Kazimi, associate professor, Department of Film, Faculty of Fine Arts, York University
Born and raised in India, Professor Kazimi holds a BSc degree from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi and a BFA in Film from York University. He is a documentary filmmaker whose research interests include race, migration, indigeneity, history and memory. His productions have been shown at festivals around the world, winning more than 30 national and international awards and a host of nominations. His prize-winning films include Narmada: A Valley Rises (International Critics' Award, Mumbai International Film Festival), Passage from India (Best Television Series, Houston World Filmfest), Continuous Journey, on the 1914 Komagata Maru incident (Golden Conch, Mumbai International Film Festival; Best Documentary Feature, San Francisco International Asian American Filmfest; Ram Bahadur Trophy, Best of Fest, Kathmandu), Runaway Grooms (Gemini - Donald Brittain Award for Best Social/Political Documentary) and Rex versus Singh (Best Canadian Film, Reel Asian International Filmfest, Toronto). His credits as cinematographer include Bollywood Bound and the Genie Award-winning A Song for Tibet. He has been honoured with retrospectives at the Toronto’s Images Festival of Independent Film & Video (1998), Pacific Film Archives/Berkeley Art Museum (2006), Mumbai International Film Festival (2008) and ViBGYOR International Documentary Film Festival in Thrissur, India (2009).
Professor Kazimi is a collaborative researcher in the interdisciplinary Future Cinema Lab in York’s Faculty of Fine Arts and lead filmmaker with the York-based 3D Film Innovation Consortium (3D FLIC), an innovative academic/industry initiative that bridges research in stereoscopic perception and the development of stereoscopic 3D film language and production to build S3D production capacity.
Ina Agastra, international relations and development officer, Faculty of Fine Arts, York University
Ina Agastra oversees activities related to the advancement of the international scope and reputation of York’s Faculty of Fine Arts. Her portfolio includes cultivating mechanisms to enhance students’ international experience and expand opportunities for students to study abroad. She also works with the Faculty’s international alumni to foster alumni communities in various regions and engage graduates with current students. Prior to this role at York, she worked in the non-profit sector where she coordinated international development projects, assisting women in developing countries through micro-credit lending initiatives. She holds an Honours BA in International Studies from Glendon College, York University and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Public Policy, Administration and Law.
