Students enrolled in STAC courses develop crucial skills for a successful career, among them creative problem-solving, effective communication, cultural perceptiveness, team spirit, resiliency, and adaptability. Our STAC majors aspire to be writers, reviewers, educators, curators, managers or administrators for cultural institutions like museums, arts centres, galleries or cultural associations. They want to work in the public sector on arts policy, programming for cultural agencies, or for municipal, provincial or federal governments.

Many graduates run, or contribute to, theatre companies, arts festivals, exhibitions or presentation centres. Others become involved in arts businesses like galleries, magazines or consultancies.

The STAC program is also an excellent foundation for further study in Master of Arts programs in Digital Communities, Art History, Curatorial Studies, and Studies in Comparative Literatures and Arts.

Professions in the field:

• Writers, reviewers, educators, curators, managers or administrators for cultural institutions
• Visitor engagement coordinator, cultural outreach officer, cultural events planner, conference manager, communication and marketing team member, program development and education coordinator
• Work in the public sector on arts policy, programming for cultural agencies, or for municipal, provincial or federal governments
• Run, or contribute to, theatre companies, arts festivals, exhibitions or presentation centres
• Work in arts businesses like galleries, magazines or consultancies
• Editorial team member for magazines and publishers
• Humanities research and development officer

Maya Meyerman graduated in 2021 with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Studies in Arts and Culture, with a Concentration in Cultural Management and First-Class Standing.

Following her time at STAC, Maya went on to complete the Humber College Arts Administration & Cultural Management Studies program.  She did a field placement as a research assistant for a project about dance creation and rehearsal spaces with Dance Umbrella Ontario, and produced an arts festival for young and emerging artists in her hometown of Kingston. Since 2021 Maya has worked as a Ballet Instructor and Studio Assistant, a Research Assistant, a Stage Manager, and a Co-Managing Director of a youth-led arts festival.  She was awarded the Culture’s Compass Fellowship at the Humber College Centre for Creative Business Innovation.

Maya is completing her MA in Arts, Festival and Cultural Management at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, Scotland.  Queen Margaret is an excellently well-situated university in Edinburgh, one of the world’s most celebrated centres of culture and the home for many Edinburgh Festivals. With its highly entrepreneurial focus, it’s a great fit for a STAC graduate.  Her next adventure is studies for her PhD.

She writes in her LinkedIn profile:

I am an emerging arts manager who is passionate about increasing accessibility to the arts and using them to create a more vibrant and connected community. I am always willing to talk about the role of art in society and love supporting artists of all kinds with their creative aspirations.

Read about Maya in this article: brocku.ca/miwsfpa/dramatic-arts/2021/06/21/fine-and-performing-arts-grads-poised-to-shape-the-future-with-creative-skills/

With her undergraduate degree in hand, Carla Chambers pursued her research interests in the representation of racialized women in opera while completing a Master of Arts in Studies in Comparative Literatures and Arts. She has relocated to Vancouver with her family to continue her work in arts and culture.

“It’s so important to have a broad knowledge base in the Arts. That’s why I am grateful for Studies in Arts and Culture, at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts. I have interacted with caring and dynamic professors from all artistic disciplines and backgrounds, all of whom have deepened my understanding of Interdisciplinary Arts. Having taken courses in arts administration, web design, dramatic arts, art history and criticism, I have been able to build a career as a performer and, Arts entrepreneur.”

“My undergraduate and extra-curricular work in the STAC program led me to participate in the 2017 Vancouver Opera Festival. This also led to job opportunities with various arts organizations throughout Canada who were interested in the dynamic skills I’d acquired through the STAC program. For a dynamic and enriching, yet practical, arts and culture program, I highly recommend the STAC program at Brock. Not only has it allowed me to explore my diverse interests, but it also helped me direct my creative and professional goals.”

“I’d say that my favourite experience was connecting with other people pursuing the arts in St. Catharines.  My in-person classes gave me the ability for all the sweet inbetween moments where I could chat with a classmate, or even a professor, and develop a friendship with shared interests. Talk to people. Get yourself in the beautiful building that is the MIW Campus, and put yourself out there. Forget about the pressure and expectation of networking; just make some friends, and I promise something amazing will come of it.”
– Skye Rogers (BA ‘22), Certificate in Arts and Culture Studies

Following a series of post graduation workshop intensives and projects, Skye took the opportunity to travel Europe, and then New York City and is now returned to Canada where she is centring her artistic practice. She previously ran a podcast and now authors a website and teaches performance. In March of 2023 she is performing in Suitcase in Point’s: Metanoia: The Immersive Experience, in downtown St. Catharines. suitcaseinpoint.com/original-productions/
Keep watching her channels for her next production creation in Niagara.

Read about Skye in this article: brocku.ca/miwsfpa/stac/2022/07/13/first-studies-in-arts-and-culture-certificate-recipient-making-mark-in-industry

Nathan Heuvingh graduated from the Studies in Arts and Culture Program with a Concentration in Curatorial Studies in 2011. Since then, he has completed the master’s program in Art at OCAD University and is now furthering his research by pursuing a PhD.

“Because of STAC’s interdisciplinary nature, my education was really well-rounded, and I acquired broad knowledge and interest in several interconnected fields. STAC strikes a good balance between history, theory and reflection on current issues in the art world. Courses with practical content also provided me with insight and skills that have proved to be extremely useful while working in administration areas of arts and cultural organizations. I was inspired by the STAC program. I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside and collaborate with incredibly creative minds. This is immensely rewarding for me.”

“Through STAC, I acquired knowledge of art history, popular culture, film and many other disciplines, but what was most important to me was that I developed an appreciation for how arts and culture can enrich and improve quality of life.”

“My experience in the interdisciplinary Studies in Arts and Culture program at Brock University provided me with the best possible preparation for both my future graduate studies and professional career in the arts. The program allowed me the flexibility to pursue my own areas of interest while also endowing me with a strong historical, theoretical and practical knowledge of classical and contemporary debates, important developments and emergent discourses in a number of increasingly interrelated fields in the humanities. Furthermore, the insistence upon establishing a connection between Brock and the local arts community, in collaboration with local institutions like the Rodman Hall Art Gallery, the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, and the Marilyn. I Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts provided an ideal and immersive environment for learning and a community through which I could become connected, gain hands-on experience, meet like-minded students and contemporaries, and make meaningful connections for the future. As the downtown revitalization and arts community of the Niagara Region continues to grow and flourish, the Studies in Arts and Culture program can only become richer, providing students with the opportunities, tools and resources necessary for their future success across a number of different creative fields and positions.”

– Tyler Adair, Honours Bachelor of Arts, 2017

“STAC opens so many doors, and offers a variety of options for studies in art, music and culture. I was able to create my own program of study, and even had the chance to design my own career path. My professors in the STAC program inspired and mentored me. They come from diverse backgrounds, and the work that they do nationally and internationally as practising artists, entrepreneurs, administrators and curators was very inspiring. My favourite thing about STAC was the abundance of opportunity I was met with after I graduated in 2015.”

– Mike Landry, Bachelor of Arts (Honours), Studies in Arts and Culture, Concentration in Cultural Management, 2015

“STAC allows me the flexibility to explore a wide variety of art types while also taking classes in business such as financial planning and marketing. It is really exciting and inspiring to be in an environment that is dedicated to the arts and STAC gives me the opportunity to engage with both past and current trends in art and popular culture in interesting and unique ways.”
– Maya Meyerman, Bachelor of Arts (Honours), Studies in Arts and Culture, Concentration in Cultural Management, 2021

“STAC has provided countless opportunities to explore my vast interests in both the Arts and in Humanities. The unique design of the program is structured to engage students with both tangible and intangible culture, as well as immersing students into the policies and practices of museums and other sectors of the arts. I aim to continue to use my knowledge gained during my years in STAC to fulfill my goal to provide the community with a new way to celebrate and cultivate cultural heritage.”

– Kelsea Dawn, Bachelor of Arts (Honours), Studies in Arts and Culture, 2017; recipient of the cSTAC Award for Academic Achievement and Community Engagement.