Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies

08/28/2026

What happens when university expertise meets community creativity?

A recent collaboration between Creative Studies professor Denise Kenney and Tempest Theatre shows how the arts can strengthen local connections, celebrate regional history, and enrich community life.

With support with the UBC Community-University Engagement Support (CUES) funding, Creative Studies professor Denise Kenney was able to continue their long-standing collaboration with Tempest Theatre, contributing to ‘DREAM’, a contemporary adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream that explores questions of class, gender, authorship, and belonging through the perspective of Shakespeare’s Mechanicals.

Read more about the funding and the project in the link below.

https://fccs.ok.ubc.ca/2026/08/26/connecting-with-community-through-performance/

Tempest Theatre & Film Society

DREAM is a contemporary adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream that explores questions of class, gender, authorship, and belonging through the perspective of Shakespeare’s Mechanicals, performed at the Village Theatre, Naramata BC (photo credit: Heiko Ryll www.heikoryll.com )

08/26/2026

New annual film festival on September 16th at the Mary Irwin Theatre.

Humans in Motion is an annual selection of short live-action films curated by local artist and professor Myron Campbell, in collaboration with students from the Bachelor of Media Studies (BMS) program at UBC Okanagan.

See the link below for more info and to purchase tickets.

Rotary Centre for the Arts

Live-action film festival organized by UBC Okanagan faculty and students from the media studies program

08/11/2026

New to UBC? We want to hear from you!

Share your expectations as you prepare for UBC through the New to UBC (NUBC) Survey.

Your feedback helps improve programs, services, and supports for current and future students.

Complete the survey by September 8 for a chance to win one of two $500 UBC Bookstore shopping sprees.

Check your email or visit pair.ubc.ca/nubc to get started.

The New to UBC (NUBC) Survey helps us understand what new students need as they prepare to begin their studies. Your responses will help improve programs, services, communications, and supports for students during their transition to UBC.

08/06/2026

Blair Visscher just completed her Master's degree in IGS Sustainability, supervised by Dr. Greg Garrard.

Her research explores how communication during three past BC wildfires reveals a gradual erosion of local journalism, institutional trust, and the shared information sources communities rely on in times of crisis.

Read the full story via the link below.

UBC Okanagan Graduate Studies Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences UBC Okanagan

On August 1, 2023, a resident of British Columbia’s North Shuswap region could check Facebook for news about the Bush Creek East wildfire. The next day, they couldn’t.

08/05/2026

Our thoughts are with those affected by wildfires in the Okanagan.

Campus is open and operating normally, with no current threat to UBCO.

Students, faculty and staff who are affected can find support resources, including emergency funding, counselling and HR support, in the message from Principal Lesley Cormack: https://principal.ok.ubc.ca/2026/08/04/regionalwildfiresandresources/

07/27/2026

Congratulations to FCCS professors Drs. Diana Carter and Karis Shearer on their recent SSHRC Insight and Insight Development Grant success!

Dr. Carter received an Insight grant for the project, “Gender-inclusive language usage and the barriers to implementation in French and Spanish language classrooms.” Dr. Carter is a Professor of Teaching in our Department of Languages and World Literatures. Find out more about this project: inclusivelanguages.ok.ubc.ca/

Dr. Shearer received an Insight Development Grant for the project, “Kalevan Naiset: Reading epic poetry in Finnish migrant-settler communities in Northern Ontario.” Dr. Shearer is an Associate Professor in our Department of English and Cultural Studies. UBC Okanagan - English Program. Find out more about Dr. Shearer and her research through the The AMP Lab at UBCO.

More than $16 million in funding was awarded across both UBC campuses through the Insight, Insight Development and Partnership Development Grants programs.

Read more about this funding announcement: https://research.ok.ubc.ca/2026/07/21/ubco-research-expertise-acknowledged-through-federal-funding/

From improving AI literacy and quality of life for adults with physical disabilities to the implications of social media on body image and finding effective pathways out of the Canadian criminal justice system, UBCO researchers are set to continue making positive impacts in society after being award...

07/23/2026

What an amazing night we had at the Woodhaven Eco culture Centre!

Thank you to Frank Horvat for such a moving performance of his composition ‘Earth Hour’, performed outdoors for the first time.

And thank you to everyone who came out to enjoy this special event, and shout out to the organizers Lisa, Shauna, Fran and Joanne, and to the committee Jodey, Greg, Briar, Kevin.

We are thrilled to have Frank as this year’s Artist in Residence, where he has spent the last month composing the next instalment in his Earth Hour series — a decades-spanning body of solo piano work confronting the climate crisis, the search for a sustainable future, and our shifting relationship with the natural world.

Special thanks to Wentworth Music for supplying the piano for this performance.

07/21/2026

The University of British Columbia Okanagan Campus

07/21/2026

We're pleased to welcome Dr. Barbara Dynda as a Visiting Scholar in Residence with the ReMedia Infrastructure for Research and Creation (ReMedia) at UBC Okanagan. She will work with Drs. Emily Murphy and Maria Alexopoulos to expand ReMedia's multimedia cultural memory-focused research program to include expertise in European and Post-Soviet q***r and feminist studies.

During her visit to UBC Okanagan, Dynda will work on the digitization of a collection of zines from post-socialist Poland with International Student Undergraduate Research Award winner, Soha Aftab.

The team will host a symposium showcasing some of Dynda's work, alongside zines and collections from Dr. George Grinnell's Punk Pedagogy Project.

📅 July 23
🕙 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
📍 Sawchuk Theatre, UBC Okanagan

Dynda and Grinnell will present this work in conversation with Alexopoulos and Murphy.

This event is free and open to all.

Feminist and q***r zines have long been powerful cultural tools for shaping social movements and preserving marginalized histories. Researchers are now exploring how these important archives can be preserved for future generations.

Read more: https://fccs.ok.ubc.ca/2026/07/14/remedia-visiting-scholar/

Cultural Studies Program - UBC Okanagan UBC Okanagan - English Program UBC Okanagan

Feminist and q***r zines have long been powerful cultural tools used in shaping social movements and preserving marginalized histories, and researchers are now examining how to safeguard their future. Zines are hand-made self-published booklets or magazines.