Creativity and Society

Creativity has been an essential human trait since someone gathered two stones and some leaves and considered the possibility that together they might make fire. From science to the arts, politics to commerce, creativity drives innovation, expands what we are capable of, and re-interprets our world for those around us. Employers across a range of fields increasingly emphasize creativity as a crucial skill for success, and creativity continues to be an essential factor in solving the most intractable problems. Moreover, the creative arts have always been at the forefront of social change, articulating our ambitions and challenging assumptions, opening doors and smashing ceilings.

The Minor in Creativity and Society combines courses in the practice of creativity with courses that study the context of creativity in the arts and other fields. The “practice” courses include workshops in creative writing, visual arts, and music and sound art composition. The “context” courses explore how creativity interacts with other fields of study: how creativity manifests itself in the sciences, how popular music reflects our sense of self, how cultural communities help determine what we think of as “great” art, and how creativity drives societal innovation. Along the way, there are numerous opportunities for experiential learning and contact with active professionals who can introduce students to the cultural organizations and businesses that drive cultural production. And as boundaries between genres and disciplines continue to blur, students will find opportunities for inter-medial projects and study.

Students in this Minor might be aspiring artists and cultural creators who would like to gain a deeper sense of their medium’s place in the broader world. Or they may be interested in being involved in the businesses and organizations that surround and support cultural production. The program features face-to-face workshops and small-seminar classes taught by leading research faculty and creative professionals.

Note that this minor program replaces the Creative Expression and Society (ASMIN2741) as of the summer 2023. Students who enrolled in that program prior to the summer 2023, will be able to complete it based on the requirements published in the 2022-23 Arts & Science Academic Calendar.

Featured Course | Creative Citizenship

CRE449H1S
Special Topics Seminar: Creative Citizenship
Rawi Hage
F 11-1

Visual Culture and the Written Word: Exploring the Aesthetics of Creativity

This course will explore multiple perspectives and ways of seeing by positioning participants at the crossroads of literary and visual forms. Focusing primarily on novels, photographic work, and film, we will aim to think as artists and writers for whom creativity and experimentation are a means of thinking, refusing, blending, reconstructing and conversing. The seminar will emphasise the exploration aesthetics and creativity, particularly creativity’s syncretic relationship to social and historical events. We will welcome practising artists into our classroom in order to further expand our capacities for seeing.

Applications Link: https://courseapps.vicu.utoronto.ca/secure/StudentHome
Application Deadline: August 15, 2023

Prerequisite: Completion of 9.0 credits
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1)

Program Contacts

Professor Adam Sol
Program Coordinator
a.sol@utoronto.ca

Chris de Barros
Academic Programs Liaison Officer
vic.academics@utoronto.ca

Program Requirements

To acquire a Minor in the Creativity and Society Program, you'll need to complete a total of 4.0 credits, including at least 1.0 credit at the 300+ level.

Please note:

Only 1.0 credit (at most) from the 100 level will be counted towards your total
Up to 1.0 credit may be chosen from approved courses offered by other departments (see list of Cognate Courses below)

Mandatory Course

You must complete CRE201H1 - Introduction to Creativity and Society

Forms of Creativity

You must complete at least 1.0 credit from the following courses:

VIC191Y1 - Artistic Creation and Public Issues
CRE210H1 - Holography for 3D Visualization
CRE273H1 - The Body: An Exercise
CRE275H1 - Creative Writing: Short Fiction
CRE276H1 - Writing for the Stage and Screen
CRE279H1 - Creative Non-Fiction
CRE280H1 - Creative Writing: Poetry
CRE282H1 - Emerging Genres in Creative Writing
CRE350Y1 - Creative Writing
CRE370H1 - Music and the Imagination
CRE470H1 - Soundscapes
CRE479H1,CRE479Y1 - Fiction: A Master Class
CRE480H1 - Poetry: A Master Class

Social Contexts and Interpretation

You must complete at least 1.0 credit from the following courses:

VIC164H1 - Ideas and Their Consequences: Literary and Artistic Realms of the Imagination
VIC165H1 - Ideas and Their Consequences: Isolation and Communion in Modern Culture
VIC190Y1 - The Arts and Society
CRE209H1 - How Stories Work
CRE235H1 - Innovation in Society
CRE247H1 - Creativity in the Sciences
CRE270H1 - Listening: A Critical History
CRE271H1 - Reading the Wild
CRE281H1 - Popular Music, Technology, and the Human
CRE335H1 - Creativity and Collaboration in Social Enterprise
CRE349H1 - Special Topics in Creativity
CRE371H1 - Documenting Reality
CRE372H1 - Reviewing, Reception, and Reading Communities
CRE374H1 - Cultural Encounters: Identity and Transformation in the Arts
CRE449H1 - Special Topics in Creativity
MCS223H1 / VIC223Y1 - Signs, Meanings, and Culture
MCS320H1 / VIC320H1/ VIC320Y1 - Semiotics of Visual Art
MCS373H1 - Materialities of Music

Cognate Courses

You may use (up to a maximum of) 1.0 credit from the following courses towards the 4.0 credits needed for your Creativity and Society Minor:

BMS319H1 - Media Ethics
CAR321H1 - Caribbean Visual Arts, Social Media and Performance
CIN201Y1 - Film Cultures 1: Art and Industry
DRM428H1 - Advanced Playwriting
EAS349H1 - Soundscapes and Modern China
ENG287H1 - The Digital Text
ENG289H1 - Introduction to Creative Writing
ENG388H1 - Creative Writing
ENG389H1 - Creative Writing
FAH352H1 - 19th Century Photography
FAH382H1 - Art Writing
INS300Y1 - Worldviews, Indigenous Knowledges, and Oral Tradition
MUS211H1 - The World of Popular Music
RLG231H1 - Music and Religion: From Bach to Kanye West
RLG232H1 - Religion and Film
RLG393H1 - Graphic Religion: Myth and the Spiritual in Graphic Novels
SMC219Y1 - Mass Media in Culture and Society
SMC229H1 - Readers and Readerships
SMC317H1 - Books, Media and Music
WRR211H1 - Introduction to Creative Writing
WRR311Y1 - Seminar in Creative Writing
WRR414H1 - Writing for Social Change

EDI Resources

Equity, Diversity, Inclusion Resources for Creativity and Society

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Creativity and Society