The Emily Carr University of Art and Design (stylized as Emily Carr University of Art + Design and abbreviated as ECU) is a

public university A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant funding from a government. Whether a national university is considered public varies from o ...

art and design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

located in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1925 as the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts, it is the oldest public post-secondary institution in

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

dedicated to professional education in the arts, media, and design. The university is named for Canadian artist and writer Emily Carr, who was known for her Modernist and Post-Impressionist artworks. The university is

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

with four academic faculties: the Faculty of Culture + Community, the Ian Gillespie Faculty of Design + Dynamic Media, the Audain Faculty of Art, and the Jake Kerr Faculty of Graduate Studies. ECU also offers non-degree education through its continuing studies, certificate, and youth programs. Currently, the university has a combined body of over 2,100 undergraduate and graduate students along with over 13,000 alumni. According to the

QS World University Rankings The ''QS World University Rankings'' is a portfolio of comparative college and university rankings compiled by Quacquarelli Symonds, a higher education analytics firm. Its first and earliest edition was published in collaboration with '' Times ...

, as of 2025, the school is ranked 36th in the world and first in Canada amongst institutions for art and design.

History

Formerly established by the British Columbia Art League as the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts in 1925, the school was renamed the Vancouver School of Art in 1933. In 1978, the school was designated a provincial institute and incorporated as the Emily Carr College of Art and Design before moving to

Granville Island Granville Island is a peninsula and shopping district in the Fairview neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, across False Creek from Downtown Vancouver, under the south end of the Granville Street Bridge. Formerly an industrial ...

in 1980. In 1995, a second building was opened on the Granville Island campus, at which time the college's name changed to the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design (ECIAD). Around the same year, the institute was granted authority to offer its own undergraduate and honorary doctoral degrees. On April 28, 2008, the provincial government announced that it would amend the ''University Act'' at the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia () is the deliberative assembly of the Legislature of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The other component of the Legislature is the lieutenant governor of British Columbi ...

and recognize ECIAD as a full university, which was formally named the Emily Carr University of Art + Design. The first graduate program at the university was introduced in 2003 (MFA) and would later expand to include the Master of Applied Arts (MAA) in 2006, the Master of Digital Media (MDM) in 2007, and the Master of Design in 2013 (MDes). The MDM program, in particular, was launched through the Centre for Digital Media, a campus consortium of four post-secondary institutions in British Columbia. In 2017, ECU moved from its longtime home on Granville Island to a permanent, purpose-built campus on Great Northern Way, which can accommodate more than twice as many students than the previous campus. The university's new location sits on a former industrial site within the False Creek Flats neighbourhood in East Vancouver.

Campus

The university's campus is located within a four-storey 26,915 square metre (289,730 sq. ft.) structure in the False Creek Flats neighbourhood of

. Designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects and constructed by

EllisDon EllisDon is an employee-owned construction services company that was founded and incorporated in 1951 in London, Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, by brothers Don and David Ellis Smith. The company is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canad ...

in 2017, the school's premises contains an outdoor plaza, student commons, galleries, faculty and administration offices, exhibition spaces, studios, classrooms, a canteen, patio, and three lecture theatres. In addition, several Indigenous design elements were incorporated into the interiors of the building. The exterior facade has white metal panels and glass reminiscent of a blank canvas, as well as back-painted glass spandrel panels to evoke a sequence of colours and transitions. The building's colour palette was selected by faculty members in honour of the university's namesake, Emily Carr. The building forms a part of the larger Great Northern Way Campus, a multi-use property that is shared with four other post-secondary institutions through the Great Northern Way Trust. Emily Carr University, along with

British Columbia Institute of Technology The British Columbia Institute of Technology (also referred to as BCIT), is a public polytechnic institute in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. The technical institute has five campuses located in the Metro Vancouver region, with its main cam ...

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

, and the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

, are all equal shareholders in the trust and utilize their own facilities on the campus. ECU is also home to the Libby Leshgold Gallery, a public art gallery dedicated to contemporary art by emerging and established artists, both domestic and international. The gallery also operates READ Books, an independent bookstore that specializes in artists' books, monographs, exhibition catalogues, textbooks, non-fiction, fiction, and design publications.

Academics

Emily Carr University specializes in art and design education, which merges studio practice, research, and critical theory in an interdisciplinary and collaborative environment. The school offers academic programs and continuing education courses in sustainable design, writing, photography, new media art, visual arts, game development, interactive media, animation, industrial design, product design, ceramics, sculpture, communication design, and illustration. All undergraduate students undergo a common foundation year before officially selecting a major (and minor, if desired). Degree programs include: * Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Cultural + Critical Practices, Illustration, Photography, or Visual Arts. Visual arts majors can choose to specialize in painting, ceramics, drawing, print media, or sculpture and extended practices. * Bachelor of Design (BDes) in Communication Design, Interaction Design, or Industrial Design. * Bachelor of Media Arts (BMA) in Animation (2D + Experimental Animation or 3D Computer Animation), Film + Screen Arts, or New Media + Sound Arts. * Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Visual Arts. * Master of Design (MDes) with Interdisciplinary and User Experience (UX) options.

Research

ECU primarily conducts research in studio-based art, media, and design through the participation of faculty members, students, research chairs, and industry partners. The school currently hosts five applied research centres and labs: the Basically Good Media Lab (BGML), DESIS Lab, Health Design Lab, Material Matters, and the Shumka Centre for Creative Entrepreneurship. In November 2009, ECU teamed up with Lucasfilm spinoff, Kerner Optical, to announce the establishment of a stereoscopic 3-D research studio. Garnet Hertz and Amber Frid-Jimenez joined the university in 2014 as the first ever Canada Research Chairs of an art and design institution in the country. In 2015, historian and curator Richard Hill joined the university as the third Canada Research Chair, specializing in Indigenous Studies.

Library

The Ron Burnett Library + Learning Commons is the university's library that serves students, faculty, and the public, and is named after Ron Burnett, one of the former presidents of ECU. The library spans three floors and also houses commons spaces, the writing centre, the teaching and learning centre, exhibition/event space, study rooms, special collections, and the university archives.

Arms

Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design's

arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

supporters In heraldry, supporters, sometimes referred to as ''attendants'', are figures or objects usually placed on either side of the Escutcheon (heraldry), shield and depicted holding it up. Historically, supporters were left to an individual's fr ...

flag A flag is a piece of textile, fabric (most often rectangular) with distinctive colours and design. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and fla ...

, and

badge A badge is a device or accessory, often containing the insignia of an organization, which is presented or displayed to indicate some feat of service, a special accomplishment, a symbol of authority granted by taking an oath (e.g., police and fir ...

were registered with the

Canadian Heraldic Authority The Canadian Heraldic Authority (CHA; ) is part of the Canadian honours system under the Monarchy of Canada, Canadian monarch, whose authority is exercised by the Governor General of Canada. The authority is responsible for the creation and gran ...

on April 20, 2007.

Notable people

Alumni

* Kate Ali * Unity Bainbridge * Arnold Belkin * Alexandra Bischoff * Molly Lamb Bobak * Emily Kai Bock *

Phillip Borsos Phillip Borsos (May 5, 1953 – February 2, 1995) was an Australian-born Canadians, Canadian film director, producer, and screenwriter.

* Annie Briard * Karin Bubaš * Arabella Campbell *

Neko Case Neko Richelle Case ( ; born September 8, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and member of the Canadian indie rock group the New Pornographers. Case's singing voice has been described by contemporaries and critics as a "flamethrower", "a pow ...

Douglas Coupland Douglas Coupland (born 30 December 1961) is a Canadian novelist, designer and visual artist. His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller '' Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture'', popularized the terms Generation X and McJob. He ...

* Stan Douglas * Kevin Eastwood * Geoffrey Farmer * Ann Marie Fleming * Tommy Genesis * Jude Griebel * Angela Grossmann * Sophie Hackett * Colleen Heslin * E. J. Hughes * Carole Itter * Donald Jarvis * Lynn Johnston * Brian Jungen * Ann Kipling * Terence Koh * Brian Kokoska * Julian Lawrence * Annie Liu * Attila Richard Lukacs * Irene Luxbacher * Jeannie Mah * Sara Mameni *

Dandilion Wind Opaine Dandi Wind was a Post-industrial music, post-industrial band created in Vancouver, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 2003. The band consisted of duo Dandilion Wind Opaine and Szam Findlay. Dandi Wind released two albums, 2006's Concrete Iglo ...

* Frank Palmer * Aaron Pollard of ( 2boys.tv) * Brandy Saturley * Jack Shadbolt *

Edith L. Sharp Edith Lambert Sharp (March 7, 1911 – July 2, 1974) was a Canadian professional woman, writing teacher, and writer. She won the annual Governor General's Award for juvenile fiction in 1958, recognizing her historical novel ''Nkwala'' as the year's ...

* Jeremy Shaw * Elise Siegel * Heather Spears * Jeff Chiba Stearns * Merike Talve *

Ronald Thom Ronald James Thom, (May 15, 1923 – October 29, 1986) was a Canadian architect. He is well known for two works: Massey College and Trent University's riverside campus. Early years He was born in Penticton, British Columbia, the son of James ...

* Renée Van Halm * Ola Volo * Joy Zemel Long

Faculty and emeriti

* Gina Adams * Julie Andreyev * Marian Penner Bancroft * Ron Burnett * Peg Campbell * Randy Lee Cutler * Garnet Hertz * Maria Hupfield (Wasauksing Ojibwe) * Landon Mackenzie * Sandra Semchuk * Gregory Scofield (Métis) * Durwin Talon * Henry Tsang * Frederick Varley * Ian Wallace * Rita Wong * Leonard Woods

References

External links

* {{Authority control Universities and colleges established in 1925 1925 establishments in Canada Universities and colleges in Vancouver Art schools in Canada