Fine arts faculty fighting for program

However, beyond the farreaching standouts, there are also a number of artists who have stayed local, especially those who have worked with the Kamloops Art Gallery, which saw a number of alumni take on work there or show their work in The Cube gallery.

“Over the years, the Kamloops Art Gallery has gone from not having much involvement with the program to having alumni in key positions at the gallery,” Lawrence said.

Among the standout artists the program has produced is Casey Koyczan, whose work was shown at the Venice Biennale in 2022 as part of his work with artist group ARCTIC XR. Lawrence compared the event to the Olympics as one of the premiere art events in the world.

“So, from the local to the international, it’s compelling,” Lawrence said.

McCutcheon acknowledged the work of students from TRU and the loss that would come from shuttering the program.

“I’m not going to try and sugarcoat that. There is a loss.

We grieve that, in fact. We’re losing something that has been important in the community,” he told KTW.

“But like everything, there’s a time and a place for all sorts of things and we’re looking at this and, based on what the students are asking for, we need to go in a different direction.”

Part of that different direction is more emphasis on the school’s theatre program, which he said has managed to go from a similar low-enrolment position to a more popular program, now combined with the English department.

Under the new format, McCutcheon said, the theatre program will be reviewed in five years.

He said a similar attempt was made at reforming the fine arts program, but couldn’t say why it didn’t materialize.

“We did try. We’ve been trying to offer this program for a long time,” he said.

“What we’ve seen is a consistent, but small, group of people who want to do this.”

McCutcheon also cited high attrition rates, with many more first-year students than fourthyear students.

Lawrence raised the concern that some faculty were not replaced after retiring and hires were made in other departments instead.

McCutcheon acknowledged that the number of visual arts faculty has gone from 10 to five

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over the past decade, but said it has had no effect on enrollment.

“I understand the concern, but there is a truth to this, as well,” he said.

A change.org petition was created by Darlene Kalynka and, as of KTW press deadline on Tuesday, April 25, it totalled nearly 500 signatures.

The petition can be found online at change.org by searching “Save the BFA at Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, B.C.”

McCutcheon said the plan to end the program still has to be presented to the university senate and board — something that will happen over the next six months.

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