We welcomed a new coterie of students this fall with great pleasure. The group included Canadian and international students, a diversity of backgrounds and career ambitions; high levels of intelligence and work ethics, and much good humour. Our professors this term: Lisa De Wilde, Peter Lyman, Celia Smith, Peter Schneider and Trina McQueen, truly looked forward to weekly and individual meetings with their students. We learned a lot from them.

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Our ambition is to provide these students with relevant and up to the minute information and new ideas, in a sector that is rapidly and dramatically changing in every way: in artistry, technology, financing, policy and regulation, audience behaviour…and of course, artificial intelligence.

We were fortunate that so many significant and successful people in our fields came to class to share their experiences and their plans: people like Corey Doctorow, author of ‘Chokepoint Capitalism’; Michael Rubinoff, producer and creator of the smash hit musical “Come From Away”, Valerie Creighton, CEO of the Canadian Media Fund and many others.  Each of them lit up their class.

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We were sorry, though, to lose one of our group, Niko  Markakis, our exceptional program co-ordinator. Niko dealt with dozens of files: from the intricacies of university policies, to the needs of dozens of students, the sudden demands of professors, IT changes, and the organization of many social events. He leaves us (for a wonderful new job) carrying our respect and affection. Thank you, Niko.