Post Secondary: Higher Learning Fridays

Higher Learning Fridays at TIFF Bell Lightbox

HIGHER LEARNING FRIDAYS is a free on-going programme that works in partnership with Canadian university and college students and faculty to examine the role of film, video, new media and gaming from a wide range of cultural, social, historical, political and technological approaches. Throughout the academic year we will have free screenings, workshops, lectures, panel discussions, master classes and hands-on events.

There are two central ways that your educational institution can engage with Higher Learning Fridays:

1. Curriculum-based Programmes: A primary goal of Higher Learning Fridays is to provide satellite programming and learning resources to the local university and colleges working in cinema and media. To accomplish this goal, Higher Learning Fridays will take advantage of the educational resources at our disposal at TIFF Bell Lightbox, as well as the professional networks we have in the broader local film and media communities at large.
   
   During Higher Learning Fridays, our learning studios and cinemas  will be available to faculty members who would like to organize events (e.g. lectures, workshops, panels, and screenings) for their undergraduate and graduate student courses. These programmes need not link directly to Bell Lightbox programming, but instead are determined by the kinds of curricula being offered by your faculty during the given academic term. When possible, we will help facilitate inviting local experts to come speak to your students, as well as provide materials (e.g. DVDs, film prints when available; materials from the Film Reference Library and Special Collections, etc) that help foster optimal learning environments for the students and faculty. These events could be tailored to your institution’s specific course or could be open to all students and faculty members from the partnering higher learning institutions. We encourage you to think of a lecture or workshop that would help bring together students, faculty and administrators from a number of different programs and schools in the area.
   
   Some examples of curriculum-based programming: A screening of a 35mm print of Breathless for a cinema studies course; a tax-credit workshop for film production students; a lecture and demonstration on film preservation for archive and media history students; a gallery tour and master class with an exhibitions curator for a curatorial class; a seminar by a Film Reference librarian on How To Access Archive Materials for a historiography or film production class.
   
   HOW YOUR PROGRAM CAN PARTICIPATE IN THESE EVENTS: Programming of these events are created on a first come, first served basis. If you have an idea for an event for Winter or Spring 2011, please contact us at [email protected].


2. Guest Speakers: When possible, Higher Learning Fridays will host events with guests who are in town for the Film Series and Public Programmes at TIFF Bell Lightbox. The guests will be internationally renowned media experts from a broad spectrum of academic disciplines and professional fields (such as: cinema and media studies, art history, cultural theory, filmmaking, sound engineering, film distribution, gaming and new media programmers, to name a few). The goal of these events is to give the students exposure and access to all kinds of experts in the fields of cinema and media. We will work with the visiting lecturer to tailor their event to fit the needs and interests of the students and faculty members. The forum for the events will range from small master classes in a Learning Studio to large lectures and on-stage presentations in one of our Learning Theatres. The events are general admission and first come, first served.
   
   

How to get your FREE tickets

FACULTY AND PROGRAM ADMINISTRATORS:
Faculty members and administrators can reserve tickets for their classes, with a limit of 30 per professor. Tickets are on a first come first served basis, so to reserve a block for your class contact [email protected], putting the name of the specific event in the subject heading.

STUDENTS:
Tickets are on a first come, first served basis and are available at TIFF Bell Lightbox Box Office (350 King Street West) one hour before the event start time. Limit one ticket per student.

**Students and faculty must show valid university or college identification (e.g. student cards, faculty cards) to obtain a same-day ticket for a Higher Learning Fridays event.

For more information about our upcoming events with guest speakers, join the Higher Learning Fridays email list [email protected].