VanArts

Vancouver Institute of Media Arts

200px
Type	Open
Established	1995 (1995)
President	Alan Phillips
Location	Vancouver , British Columbia , Canada
Campus	600 - 570 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver, BC Canada, V6B 1Y1
Nickname	VanArts
Affiliations	PCTIA, BCCCA
Website	vanarts.com

Vancouver Institute of Media Arts (VanArts) is a private post-secondary school in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada founded in 1995 focusing on classical animation.

VanArts is accredited through the Private Career Training Institutions Agency (PCTIA).

History

VanArts was founded in 1995 with Lee Mishkin as its founding program director.

The first campus for VanArts was on West Broadway street in Vancouver, and by 1998 it had moved downtown to 837 Beatty Street. Originally offering programs for classical and computer animation, the school expanded to offer Game Art & Design in 2003 and Visual Effects in 2004. Upon adding the first Digital Photography program in North America in 2006, VanArts needed to expand and moved to a new campus at 626 West Pender Street. In 2008, the William Davis Centre for Actors Study joined up with VanArts and became its Acting department. Another move happened in 2010 to its current location at 570 Dunsmuir Street. 2011 brought new departments for Web Development & Interactive Design, and the addition of Broadcasting for Radio & Television from the esteemed faculty of Columbia Academy School of Broadcast Arts.

2011 also marked VanArts’ first degree pathway agreement with Woodbury University in Burbank, CA, soon to be followed by further pathways with Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, Bond University and Griffith University in Queensland, Australia, Media Design School in Auckland, New Zealand, University of Gloucestershire in the United Kingdom. In 2013, VanArts signed an agreement for its first local degree pathway with the Vancouver campus of Fairleigh Dickinson University.

The William Davis Centre for Actors Study

The William Davis Centre for Actors Study was opened in 1989 by William B. Davis. In 2008 the William Davis Centre for Actors Study became the acting department of VanArts.

Columbia Academy Broadcasting School

Originally part of an American company, the Columbia School of Broadcasting, in 1967, founder, George McNeill, took control of the Vancouver school and established the Columbia Academy.

The courses offered at that time were dedicated to Broadcast Announcing and Commercial Copywriting for Radio & Television. In the late 1970s, McNeill created Water Street Film & Sound Works and added Recording Engineering career training to the courses offered. As a result, in 1981, the school's name was changed to Columbia Academy of Radio, Television and Recording Arts.

In 1986, Columbia Academy moved from Vancouver's historic Gastown district into its current location on West Broadway. That year also marked the school's expansion into Video, Film and Television Production training. In 2011 Columbia Academy's broadcasting department became a part of VanArts and it remains at the pinnacle of Broadcasting, Recording & Sound Design.

Programs

VanArts offers 12 month programs, as well as part-time courses in Acting, scene study and audition preparation as well as Voice and Speech), Art & Animation (which includes Stop Motion, Comic Book Design) and Digital Photography (which includes Photography 101 and Video for DSLR).

Animation Career Review ranked VanArts as #1 in Western Canada and #11 in the world for animation training in 2012. The strength of VanArts' one-year diploma programs was highly regarded alongside prestigious universities and 4-year degree programs.

External links

• Vancouver Institute of Media Arts